An Iranian panel charged with vetting candidates approved the country's incumbent president and five challengers but disqualified former hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from running in next month's presidential election, state television reported Thursday. It has never allowed a woman to run for president and routinely rejects political dissidents and others calling for dramatic reform. Ahmadinejad, who remains a deeply polarizing figure even among Iranian hard-liners, had shocked the country by registering last week. He predicted the former president would nonetheless remain politically active during the campaign to create a "quasi-opposition face for himself" for the future. Under Iran's clerically overseen system, the president is subordinate to Khamenei, who is Iran's top decision-maker and has the final say on all matters of state.

Source: CBC News April 21, 2017 03:33 UTC