Iran Presidential Elections Today

On Friday, 14 June more than 50 million Iranians will be voting for a new president of the country. They can choose between one of the six candidates for the new President of Iran. As the conservative ‘Guardian council’ always makes a selection of all candidates and they barred the candidacy of all real reformists, the Iranians don’t have a lot of candidates to choose from. According to an Open Doors spokesman Christians feel that there is not much in these elections for them, as no major changes are to be expected with whatever candidate wins. In Iran the ‘Supreme leader’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is considered as the most powerful man. The present President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is finishing his second term and according to the Iranian constitution won’t be able to run for presidency again. The new president has to get more than 50% of the votes on the first day of the elections. If no candidate gets the absolute majority on Friday, there will be a second day of voting on 21 June. The new president will be inaugurated on 3 August. PRAYER POINTS • Pray that the best candidate will win the elections and that there will be an improvement of the situation of the Christians in Iran. • Saturday the results will be announced. Pray that the people will maintain calm; four years ago violent protests erupted after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected. • Pray for the Christians in Iran, many of them only can worship together in house churches. • Pray for the imprisoned Christians in Iran.