(AFP) – May 20, 2009

TEHRAN (AFP) — Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being challenged by a fellow conservative, a moderate and a reformist in a four-way race for Iran's presidency, according to a final line-up announced on Wednesday.

Aside from Ahmadinejad, those cleared by electoral watchdog the Guardians Council to stand in the June 12 poll are former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai, former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi and ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli announced.

"As of now all of them can start campaigning up until 24 hours before election day," he said.

A total of 475 Iranians had registered as prospective candidates -- 433 men and 42 women.

All were screened by the Islamic republic's powerful 12-member Guardians Council, six clerics selected by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and six jurists proposed by the head of the judiciary.

The Guardians Council approved only four. In the 2005 election won by Ahmadinejad, eight candidates of the 1,014 who registered were approved, and eventually just seven stood.

Karroubi blamed "irregularities" for his defeat in 2005 and has demanded transparency this time round.

"It is not possible to have any irregularities in this election. Even if there are some minor infringements the system is developed in such a way as to confront these," Mahsouli said.

He said a lottery would now be held to determine the order of televised debates by candidates.

The head of Iran's state-run television Ezatollah Zarghami said last week that the channel would air debates by candidates and vowed "fairness" in its coverage.

But Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main rival, in a letter to parliament speaker Ali Larijani, judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and attorney general Ghorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi, accused state television of "repeated and open breaches of neutrality."

Karroubi has previously accused television of broadcasting biased coverage in favour of Ahmadinejad. The state media give comprehensive coverage of Ahmadinejad's tours and of his speeches.

During his four-year term Ahmadinejad has earned global notoriety for his harsh rhetoric against Israel and his rejection of any concession over Iran's nuclear programme, but his economic policies have also made him controversial at home.

Mousavi Rezai, a conservative critic of Ahmadinejad who says he is standing as an independent, headed Iran's ideological shock troops the Revolutionary Guards Corps for 16 years and has impeccable hardline credentials.

Has been an outspoken critic of the incumbent, accusing him of pushing Iran to the edge of a "precipice."

Mousavi, who says he is a "reformist who refers to the principles" of the 1979 Islamic revolution, has promised that if elected he will seek to change the "extremist" image Iran has earned abroad during Ahmadinejad's presidency.

Karroubi is the most overtly reformist of the four, but insists he will be careful while introducing changes not to antagonise regime hardliners.

Khamenei this week implicitly came out in support of Ahmadinejad, urging voters not to elect a candidate who could adopt a pro-West stance.

It would be a "catastrophe" for Iran, Khamenei said, if a candidate who "thinks about endearing himself to some Western power or an international arrogant" is elected next month.

Ahmadinejad's presidency has seen Iran adopt an aggressive stance towards Western powers, especially the United States.

In a similar speech nearly two weeks ago, Khamenei also gave veiled support to Ahmadinejad, again without naming him.

"We should elect those who have popular support and who live in a simple and modest way... are pained by the pain of the people," he said in an apparent reference to Ahmadinejad who is known for his modest lifestyle.

Iranian officials have said that 46.2 million Iranians are eligible to vote.

The interior ministry has said results will be declared a day after the election.

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