Writer stood for election in Middle East country (4)
I believe the answer is:
iran
'middle east country' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'writer stood for election' is the wordplay.
'writer' becomes 'I' (the person who is writing these clues).
'stood for election' becomes 'ran' (as in running for election).
'i'+'ran'='IRAN'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for iran that I've seen before include "Country that was Persia" , "Middle Eastern country" , "bombless state" , "It was known as Persia until 1935" , "Iraq's neighbour" .)