Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (in
Persian: محمد باقر قالیباف; born September
1961 in
Mashhad) is the
mayor of
Tehran. He attempted an unsuccessful
bid for president in
2005.
He was born in September of
1961 in
Torghaba near
Mashhad and at age 22 he was the
Commander of Nasr forces during
Iran-Iraq war. In
1996 he got his
MA in
Political geography and in
2001, he got his
Ph.D. in the same field from
Tarbiat Modares University.
He has been selected by
Ali Khamenei to succeed Gen.
Hedayat Lotfian in the summer of
1999 after the
Iranian student protests of July, 1999.
After becaming the Head of the Police, Ghalibaf made some reforms in the forces and started up a new plan for Iranian police forces including
Police 110 for making the police more reachable to the general public. He was also successful in handling
2003 Iranian student protests with his deputy
Morteza Talaei, the head of the Tehran's Police and helped end the protests without any loss of life or serious damage.
He is also the special representative of President
Mohammad Khatami in the Anti-
Traffic Committee.
On the weeks before
presidential election, he asked for retirement from military forces and approved by
Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and the Supreme Commander of Military Forces.
Ghalibaf was a candidate in the
Iranian presidential election of 2005, and is being considered to be supported by the some factions of the conservatives alliance because of his popularity with both wings. But in the final days before election, major support went to
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
On
April 5 he resigned from his position in the Police due to his presidential activities and officially announced that he will run in
Iranian presidential election, 2005.
It has also been reported that Ghalibaf has claimed in a private party that he is the personal choice of
Ayatollah Khamenei, the
Supreme Leader of Iran, for the presidential office, while Khamenei had previously mentioned that nobody knows his vote.
On September of
2005, he was elected from Tehran City Council to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the 12th Mayor of Tehran with 8 out of 15 votes of the council.
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Official campaign website
