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# Consolidating Conservative Votes
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/18537/
- Published: 2005-06-16T06:06:38.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:33:39.000Z
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:15

[Mohsen Rezai](http://www.rezaee.ir/?ref=opendemocracy.net), former commander Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, pulled out of the elections today. It is probably an attempt to unify the hard-liner vote which is thought to be [split amongst too many conservative candidates.](http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/6/62D33359-BD6E-4C73-A51E-ABF2C88F504C.html?ref=opendemocracy.net) Rezai was one of the weakest candidates in the polls (garnering up to 5% of the votes).

This could be an attempt to push [Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf](http://www.ghalibaf.ir/?ref=opendemocracy.net), the leading conservative candidate, as a front-runner or at least ahead of [Mostafa Moien](http://www.drmoeen.ir/?ref=opendemocracy.net), who is second in recent polls and is gaining in popularity.