TEHRAN: Iran will air live debates on state television ahead of May’s presidential election, the interior ministry said on Sunday, reversing a decision to show recorded versions that had triggered an outcry.

“After demands by the Iranian nation and the candidates for a review [of the decision], the presidential elections campaign commission decided ... that debates may be broadcast live,” the ministry said in a statement on official news agency IRNA.

The U-turn came days after the commission, which sets campaigning rules ahead of the May 19 poll, said the debates would not be broadcast live as in previous elections, sparking outrage on social media.

Moderate President Has­san Rouhani and his conservative rivals Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Bag­her Ghalibaf all rejected the ban. Televised debates are a relatively new feature of Iranian presidential elections and are believed to have influenced the results of votes in 2009 and 2013.

The ban on live debates was seen as an attempt to avoid embarrassing certain candidates by exposing details about their actions in previous roles.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2017