IRAN – Under the specter of conflict with Israel, a struggling economy and social discontent, Iranians headed to the polls on Friday for snap presidential elections that could be the most important for the country in decades.The sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a recent helicopter crash, alongside Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials, has left a leadership void. Raisi, a hardline regime loyalist, was widely regarded as a leading candidate to replace Iran’s Supreme Leader, 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate authority over all state matters.
It is also the first presidential election since the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s notorious morality police in 2022, an event that sparked the largest protests since the regime’s founding in 1979. The vote takes place amid deteriorating relations with the West, an advancing Iranian nuclear program, and an increasing risk of direct war with Israel. Just two months ago, Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time as the Gaza conflict widened, and Israel is now preparing for a potential second front with Hezbollah, Iran’s primary regional proxy, in Lebanon.
Three conservatives are vying with a single reformist candidate for the country’s top elected seat, after dozens of other candidates were barred from standing. Of those running, Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, a reformist lawmaker and former health minister, Saeed Jalili a hardline security adviser and nuclear negotiator, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the conservative speaker of the Iranian parliament, are widely considered the frontrunners in the first round of elections. The final candidates were pre-selected by Iran’s Guardian Council, which reports directly to Khamenei.Some polls have shown increasing popularity for Pezeshkian, with the rest of the conservatives splitting the vote. During nationwide protests against Amini’s death in 2022, Pezeshkian said in an interview with Iran’s IRINN TV: “It is our fault. We want to implement religious faith through the use of force. This is scientifically impossible. On Thursday, two conservative candidates, Amirhossein Qazizadeh-Hashemi and Alireza Zakani, withdrew from the race to help consolidate the hardline vote. Qazizadeh-Hashemi urged other candidates from the revolution camp” to do the same to secure a hardliner victory.
These are nothing like free and fair elections, and only those who’ve already pledged absolute loyalty to Khamenei and the Islamic Republic can run,” said Arash Azizi, an Iranian writer and fellow at the Center for Middle East and Global Order CMEG, a Berlin-based think tank. “But there are still very important differences between the three main candidates. Each of them present certain problems for Khamenei. The top contenders are children of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, likely shaped by their experiences fighting the then US-backed Saddam Hussein regime in the bloody, decade-long war with their neighbor Iraq, as well as careers serving the Iranian state. But voters’ choice between either of the conservatives or their reformist co-candidate will steer a different path forward for the country. (CNN)…[+]

KENYA – Kenya’s High Court has approved the use of military force to restore order, following days of anti-tax protests that at some point overwhelmed police. More than 20 people have reportedly been killed in the nationwide protests that are largely led by young people opposed to government plans to increase taxes.
Armoured military vehicles patrolled streets in the capital, Nairobi, on Thursday as police fired tear gas to disperse protesters, who had threatened to storm the presidential palace. A judge said that the military deployment was critical to protect government installations but gave the authorities two days to clarify how long the deployment would last, along with its rules of engagement.
“To deploy the military in a blanket manner without defining their scope of operation and the duration of their operation is a dangerous trend that can bring about militarisation of the country,” ruled Justice Lawrence Mugambi. The Law Society of Kenya, which had petitioned the court to order the army back to the barracks, said it “respects but disagrees” with the ruling.
President William Ruto on Wednesday bowed to pressure and said he would withdraw the finance bill containing the unpopular tax proposals, a day after parliament was briefly stormed and set ablaze by angry protesters. Isaac Mwaura, the government spokesman, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the withdrawal of the bill was a “huge blow to the government as it left a “big hole” in the budget.
“It is really a big setback,” Mr Mwaura said, blaming “misinformed” Kenyans for opposing it. “There was a very well-choreographed campaign, both locally and internationally, to misinform and disinform people so that they can create a revolt,” he added. (BBC)…[+]

VS – Republican Donald Trump has called US President Joe Biden “a very bad Palestinian” who doesn’t want to help Israel “finish the job” against Hamas in its war on Gaza. “He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian – but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one,” former president Trump said in the first presidential debate with Biden on Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ayah Ziyadeh, director of American Muslims for Palestine, told Al Jazeera that the “bad Palestinian” comment “was very blatantly racist”. “Using Palestinian as a slur shows the depths of racism that exists here,” Ziyadeh said.
While foreign policy and the Middle East were referenced numerous times during the debate, as pro-Palestinian protests were held near the venue, the suffering of Palestinians and the toll of Israel’s campaign in Gaza – which has killed more than 37,700 people since October – received little mention.
Neither Biden, who is under pressure from his Democratic base over his staunch support of ally Israel, nor Trump is “not fit to represent” Palestinian and Arab communities in the United States, Ziyadeh said. “Not only are Muslim and Arab Americans deciding that they don’t want to commit to Biden or re-elect him because of his continued stance and fuelling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. But the broader American public has also shifted and it’s become one of the biggest issues that is impacting the coming elections,” she said. (Al Jazeera)…[+]