Qalibaf: The emerging conservative candiadte

Mohammad Bagher (baqer) Ghalibaf (Qalibaf) is gradually emerging as the most popular candiadte the conservative can possibly come up with.

As much as Larijani is secretly backed and pushed by Khamenei, and despite his management experience and skills, polls shows that he has little popularity comparing to Qalibaf.

So it strikes me that, if things didn't improve for Larijani, Khamanei would have no choice but to accept Qalibaf as the president.

The challenge, in the conservatives' camp, would now be how to deal with the sudden emergence of Qalibaf who is backed by some young radicals from the revolutionary guards who are not necessarily buying Khamenei's order.

However, the fact that Qalibaf could not have entered the race without the public approval of Khamenei (because he had to resign from his post as the chief of Police), seems to me he is now fully committed to Khamanei.

If this is the case, he would benefit from Khemeni's (secret) money for campaigning and would have to accept a major future role of Khamenei in his government, which includes a significant role for Ali Larijani as the vice-president or the minister of one of the most important ministries.

I'm sure Khamanei wishes they hadn't removed the old system in which a prime minister had to be chosen by the parliament and the president had no real power.