Al-Monitor |�Saeid Jafari: With two weeks to go to Iran�s May 19 presidential election, Principlist candidates have embarked on a competition to see who can attract more voters by making bigger campaign promises.
Conservative hopefuls Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the holy shrine of the eighth Shiite Imam, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf have placed their focus on Iran�s lower classes, which they hope to win over mainly with monetary promises. Ghalibaf said April 24 that if elected�he would increase monthly cash handouts, which were initiated by the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-13), increasing them�up to 2.5 million rial (around $66) from the current 455,000 rial (around $12) per month. The next day,�April 25, Raisi vowed to triple the monthly cash payments.The administration of President Hassan Rouhani (2013-present) has long voiced discontent with the payments, which became very popular under the Ahmadinejad government. On Feb.�20, 2014, Minister of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei urged wealthier Iranians to forgo the payments, saying, �For the sake of the greater national interest, which includes the extension of public insurance, youth employment and helping the lower classes of society, withdraw from receiving cash handouts.� His call largely fell on deaf ears as the vast majority of Iranians continued to receive the monthly payments.

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