Ahmadinejad seeks new term as Iran president

By Hossein Jaseb and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday officially declared his candidacy for a second term in an election that is expected to pit him against a moderate former prime minister.

The hardline president, who has proved a polarising figure in Iranian politics with his anti-Western speeches and profligate government spending of petrodollars, registered as a candidate in the June 12 vote at the Interior Ministry in Tehran.

"Each election should be a launchpad for higher aims and a new start for the nation," Ahmadinejad told reporters. "My duty is to announce my readiness to serve the people."

A senior aide had told Reuters that he would run again but Ahmadinejad had not himself made clear his plans until now.

Moderate former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, who is widely seen as Ahmadinejad's main challenger, is expected to register on Saturday.

Even though Iran's nuclear row with the West dominates headlines abroad, analysts predict the economy and high inflation in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter will be the main campaign issues.

The vote is Ahmadinejad's biggest popularity test since he emerged as the surprise winner of the 2005 presidential race vowing to share out Iran's oil wealth more fairly and to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Reformists and even some conservatives have accused him of squandering Iran's oil revenue windfall when crude prices soared in 2002-08 and of isolating Iran internationally.