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| Live TV Debates Have Been Cancelled in Iran's Presidential Election |
The faction loyal to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has protested why the debates will not be aired live, attempting to blame the faction loyal to President Hassan Rouhani.
Rouhani’s advisor said in response, “Presidential elections are held and aired differently in other countries. In the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1997 onward these debates have been aired on TV. In 2005 the experts related to each candidate debated on TV and in 2009 one on one debates were seen in Iran. In 2013 a group debate was aired live on TV. There are those who believe that more supervision is needed and it was decided to air these debates as recordings.”
It is obvious that the main issue at hand is increasing rifts amongst the regime’s senior ranks and the entire farce elections becoming a disaster for the regime. It is also obvious that senior Iranian regime officials cancelled the live debate, knowing the risks will be too high.
