TEHRAN -- The third and last televised debate among Iran’s presidential candidates entitled “People’s Concerns” on Saturday focused on economic questions which have found the center stage in the election.
Continuing in the style of the previous two debates, candidates were asked to discuss seven topics including “housing, employment, high prices, justice, corruption and structuring ‘hidden’ subsidies”.
In the third debate, several candidates criticized the Rouhani administration and promised to fight corruption, unemployment and inflation and boost domestic production to fight the effects of U.S. sanctions.
The reformist-centrist candidate Abdolnaser Hemmati directly raised the question of U.S. sanctions and claimed that none of the economic promises by candidates can be resolved as long as the country is under sanctions.
Hemmati was the governor of the Central Bank of Iran under President Hassan Rouhani and is viewed by many Iranians more of the same as a presidential candidate.
He claimed that principlists were responsible for the problems in Iran’s relations with the rest of the world and that his government would not consider Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as enemies.
Hemmati also claimed that people close to Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, who leads the polls, opposed Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers and the country’s accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
A new study by Press TV after the second presidential debate showed an increase in turnout and variations in voter support for the candidates, the network said on Saturday.
Voter turnout rose to 47.3 % — up 0.2 percent from the previous study, which followed the first debate, it said, adding the figure is expected to rise further as the election day draws closer.
Raisi continues to lead in the polls of the likely voters with 50.6%, down from 55.6% in the previous study.
According to Press TV’s findings, Mohsen Rezaei ranks a distant second with 5.8%, up from 5.5%.
The two reformist candidates in the election, Hemmati and Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh, lag far behind with 2.7% and 0.4%, respectively.
Other candidates come next, with Sa’eed Jalili at 2.7%; Amir-Hussein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi at 4% and Alireza Zakani at 1.2 %.
Some 9.9% of the likely voters are undecided about whom they would vote for or whether they would cast a blank vote. Meanwhile, 22.7% of the likely voters remain undecided after the second presidential debate.
Iran is holding its 13th presidential election on June 18. The first presidential debate was held on June 5, and the second debate on June 8. Over 59.3 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the election, according to the Iranian Interior Ministry.