Mohammad Gharazi

Mohammad Gharazi
Gharazi voting in Hosseiniyeh Ershad, 2016
Member of the City Council of Tehran
In office 29 April 1999 – 3 January 2000
Majority	192,211 (13.69%)
Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone
In office 31 October 1985 – 15 August 1997
President	Ali Khamenei Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Prime Minister	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by	Morteza Nabavi
Succeeded by	Mohammad Reza Aref
Minister of Petroleum
In office 15 August 1981 – 31 October 1985
President	Mohammad-Ali Rajai Ali Khamenei
Prime Minister	Mohammad-Javad Bahonar Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by	Mohammad Javad Tondguyan
Succeeded by	Gholam Reza Aghazadeh
Member of the Parliament of Iran
In office 12 August 1981 – 15 August 1981
Preceded by	Ahmad Salamatian
Constituency	Isfahan
Majority	237,443 (77.5%)
Governor of Khuzestan Province
In office 2 January 1980 – July 1981
Preceded by	Ahmad Madani
Succeeded by	Mohammad-Hassan Tavallayi
Personal details
Born	5 October 1941 Isfahan, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Executives of Construction Party (1990s) People's Mojahedin (1970s)
Spouse(s)	Razieh Salimi[1]
Residence	Pasdaran, Tehran[2]
Alma mater	University of Tehran

Mohammad Gharazi (Persian: محمد غرضی‎‎, also spelled Mohammad Qarazi) is an Iranian politician who served as minister of petroleum from 1981 to 1985 and minister of post from 1985 to 1997. He was also a member of the Iranian Parliament from 1980 to 1984 and also governor of Khuzestan Province. He was an independent candidate in the 2013 presidential election.

Early life and education

He was born on 5 October 1941 in Shahreza, Isfahan province.^[3] He studied electronics the University of Tehran. He later moved to France but was back to his home country and was arrested by SAVAK in 1972.^[4]

Career

Gharazi began his political career in 1974 and was exiled to Iraq by Shah's government. In 1976, he joined the Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO).^[3] He accompanied Ruhollah Khomeini on his trip from Paris to Tehran.^[4] Following the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Gharazi was appointed governor of Kurdistan Province and later Khuzestan Province.^[5] He was elected as member of the Iranian Parliament in 1980 election.^[3] He later was appointed minister of petroleum by the then Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi.^[6] He held this post until 1985, when he became minister of post (currently Communication).^[4] He resigned from office in 1997 after election of Mohammad Khatami.^[3] He was also a member of City Council of Tehran from 1999 to 2000.

2013 presidential campaign

Gharazi run for President of Iran as an independent in the 2013 election, having announced his candidacy on 8 May 2013. His candidacy was approved by Guardian Council.^[7] He was the only independent candidate approved to run in the presidential election.^[8] However, he was regarded as one of the dark horses in the election.^[8] He won the sixth place in the election, receiving only 446,015 votes.

Electoral history

Year	Election	Votes	%	Rank	Notes
1980	Parliament	306,145	77.5	1st	Won
1999	City Council of Tehran	192,211	12.98	15th	Won
2000	Parliament				Lost
2013	President	446,015	1.22	6th	Lost
2016	Assembly of Experts	–			Disqualified
	Parliament	24,150	0.74	68th	Lost

References

1. همسران نامزدها به چه کاری مشغولند؟ Iran Elect
2. "تمام اطلاعات خانوادگی کاندیداهای ریاست جمهوری یازدهم". Isna. 13 January 2014.
3. "Candidate Profile: Mohammad Qarazi". Asharq Alawsat. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
4. "Mohammad Gharazi profile". PressTV. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
5. Members of the Parliament (1980–1984) at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 March 2008)
6. Ministers
7. Mohammad Gharazi registered
8. Candidates profile Al Jazeera, 21 May 2013