Iran Election Watch 2013: What are the characteristics of the IRGC’s ideal presidential candidate?

We here at IranPolitik place special significance on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a political actor in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We have argued on our website before that the IRGC is represented by proxy politicians who we have called the Neo-Principalist political current. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first administration (2005-2009) was Neo-Principalist until the 2009 presidential election crisis, after which he became increasingly independent. His second administration (2009-2013) has been dominated by what we have called the Ahmadinejad-Mashaei Current. In the ninth session of parliament (2012-2016) one of the largest and most influential factions, the Persevering Front of the Islamic Revolution (PFIR), is Neo-Principalist. The [...]