Two conservative hardline candidates in Iran's presidential election have announced they are dropping out of the race, in an effort to unite support among hardline voters headed to the polls on Friday.
Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani announced his withdrawal on Thursday, a day after arch-conservative politician Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi posted on X that he was no longer running for president.
This leaves four contenders in the election to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. The election campaign formally ended on Thursday morning.
Ghazizadeh Hashemi was one of Raisi's vice presidents and is chairman of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. He belongs to the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability, a political faction loyal to the Islamic Republic's hardline leadership.
On Wednesday he urged others with a similar political bent to follow suit and withdraw from the race, in order for support to coalesce around a single hardline candidate.
Around 61 million voters are being called upon to elect a successor to Raisi. The Guardian Council, an extremely conservative supervisory body, had only authorized six candidates for the election.
In the hardline camp, a power struggle is raging between Saeed Jalili, ex-negotiator in the international nuclear talks, and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Former health minister Masoud Pezeshkian is the only moderate candidate seen as having a chance at the presidency.
Zakani called on Ghalibaf and Jalili to set aside their differences in order to prevent the possible emergence of a moderate government.
Alongside the three candidates, the cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi is also still in the running.