Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
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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.
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[edit] Early life
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 received his MA in Political geography and in 2001, he earned a Ph.D. in the same field from Tarbiat Modares University.
[edit] Police career
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 was 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.
[edit] Presidential campaign
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.
[edit] Mayor of Tehran
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.
