Iranian candidates to face off in final TV showdown

The contestants trying their chances of victory in Iran’s upcoming presidential elections are to hold their third and last debate to precede the May 19 polls.

The session will start out at 16:30 local time (1200 GMT) on Friday, and is expected to last for at least three hours.

The first one saw the aspirants sparring and addressing sundry issues. The second one was much more heated, with candidates aiming directly for each other’s past and present performances.

The debate will gather incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, member of Iran’s Expediency Council Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim, Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi, the current custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH) in the northeastern city of Mashhad and former vice president Mostafa Hashemi-Taba.

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Rouhani employment plan

On Thursday, Rouhani (seen below) particularized his employment plan during a televised interview. He said that upon potential election, the first scheme to be implemented by his administration would be that of youths’ internship.

As per the plan, unskilled youths would be both learning and earning a third of perceived minimum wage over a four-month-long internship course. Upon overseeing the course, the employers could take in the interns if they saw fit, he added. Rouhani said that the employers would be then paid back by the administration for the first year.  

Should the country continue to enjoy an eight-percent economic growth as was the case last year, Rouhani said, more than 900,000 jobs could be created annually.

The president said that the issue of unemployment could not be solved through offering people cash and producing statistics, adding that employment was tied to popular trust in the country’s future and people’s assuredness of their peace and security.

Iran, he said, was in need of a chief executive, who was well aware of both the country’s needs and the world’s diplomacy.

“We should manage to secure regional and extra-regional market shares for ourselves,” Rouhani said, adding, “To secure the world’s export market, they (the world) should have long-lasting trust in us.”

“We should engage in sustainable relations and diplomacy with the world,” he said.

Aqa-Mirsalim differs

Meanwhile, Aqa-Mirsalim (seen below) attended a televised program, during which he said that Iran started to feel the woe of unemployment towards the end of the second administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rouhani’s predecessor.

Despite Rouhani’s hailing of his administration’s achievements in creating new jobs, Aqa-Mirsalim said the problems had compounded under the incumbent.

“The government should revive certain main and ‘mother’ [means of] employment so thousands of other jobs could be created as a result,” he asserted.

Hashemi-Taba speaks cure

Hashemi-Taba also said directing attention towards investment in the service industry, especially in the field of tourism, will best serve to cure the country’s unemployment woe.

Raeisi talks teachers’ livelihood

Addressing a gathering of teachers, Raeisi (seen below) said his potential administration of “Labor and Dignity” would work to alleviate the concerns of teachers about their livelihood.

He also said that no one should be denied education due to their underprivileged economic conditions.

Raeisi also took on a UN document, dubbed Education 2030 agenda, which charts out development goals for world nations. Iran signed the document in 2016.

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The document, he said, has not been domesticated and was in contradiction with Iran’s national document, adding that submission to the agenda would mean subordinating the national document outlining the country’s educational reformation to another plan.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir