Two of seven candidates pull out of Iran election

Two days before Iran's presidential election, which is expected to be won by an ultraconservative cleric, two of the seven men vying for the post pulled out of the race yesterday. Conservative lawmaker Alireza Zakani withdrew hours after reformist Mohsen Mehralizadeh had also thrown in the towel ahead of Friday's vote, Iranian media reported. That leaves five hopefuls in the race, in which ultraconservative judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, 60, is seen as the clear favourite after other prominent politicians were barred from running.