The World - News from July 10, 1989

Iran’s powerful Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani will face former Cabinet minister Abbas Sheibani in the July 28 presidential election, the official news agency IRNA reported. It said the two men were chosen by the Council of Guardians from among 80 people who had registered as candidates. “There is no serious challenger,” one Iranian analyst said. “The only thing is how many millions they can get to vote to give Rafsanjani a strong political hand.” Meanwhile, a radical deputy who had mounted a one-man challenge to Iran’s leaders, accusing them of turning soft, quit Parliament. Iranian newspapers said last week that Abdolmajid Sharpasand had charged that a few leaders are monopolizing power and, because liberals with foreign affiliations are in the ascendancy, Iran is drifting away from its Islamic ideals.