Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel (born 9 May 1945) is a conservative and principlist politician and former chairman of the Parliament. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council.He was the first non-cleric in the post since the Revolution of 1979. He was one of the candidates in the 2013 presidential election but withdrew on 10 June, four days before the election.He is part of “neo-principalist” group in the political scene.Haddad-Adel was born in Tehran on 9 May 1945 into a business family.He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Tehran and also, a master’s degree in physics from University of Shiraz. He also holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Tehran which he received in 1975.He studied Islamic philosophy under Morteza Motahhari and also under Sayyed Hossein Nasr who is famous for his critique of Marxism.