Iran's most-reform minded candidate blocked from running for presidential election

One of Iran's most reform-minded presidential candidates has been barred from contesting next month's presidential election.

The conservative Guardian Council barred Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from contesting election leaving just eight men on the ballot paper, all of whom are considered hardliners.

Rafsanjani, 78, served as president between 1989 and 1997, and according to the Guardian Council was rejected on the basis of his age.

Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said he would be unlikely to cope with the role.

According to the Independent, the country's former president, Rafsanjani, who was expected to win votes from the centre ground and among Iran's moderates, was blocked along 678 other candidates, who had initially put their names forward.

The other candidate told that they cannot contest election is Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, an ally of the current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is barred from taking part in the 14 June ballot having already served two consecutive terms, the report said.

That leaves just a handful of approved candidates who have been sanctioned by the 12-member council - a body whose loyalty rests with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah, it added.