In Iran, candidates can register for the presidential election on June 28. The powerful Guardian Council will then decide whether they are ideologically suitable. Reformers have recently lost out.
Starting this Thursday, candidates in Iran can register for the presidential election in just over a month. To do so, they must appear in person at the Ministry of the Interior within the next five days. The new election has become necessary because the current incumbent, Ebrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter accident on May 19.
After the candidates have registered, the so-called Guardian Council will decide within a week whether they are ideologically suitable. The council is a powerful control body that includes Islamic clerics and lawyers. Politicians from the reform camp in particular have often been excluded from elections in the past.
According to observers, confirmation of moderate candidates by the Guardian Council would be a sign that the Islamic country is taking a new and more open course. Otherwise, the ultra-conservative forces or the hardliners would continue to determine the country’s political future.
Two weeks left for election campaign
The candidates approved by the Guardian Council will then have two weeks to campaign. If no one achieves an absolute majority of the votes cast in the first round of voting on June 28, a run-off election will be held one week later on July 5 to decide the future president.
Since Raisi’s death, rumors have been rife in the country about possible successors. Former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or top diplomat and former foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif are being mentioned.
So far, the candidacies of Raisi’s deputy Mohammed Mokhber and the former chief nuclear negotiator Said Jalili have been confirmed. Both are extremely conservative and would most likely continue Raisi’s course.
According to media reports, a candidacy by former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, who is considered moderately conservative, is also considered certain.
Applicants from the reform camp
The candidates from the reform camp are attracting a lot of interest. Although the reformers form the opposition in the country, they have had no political influence in recent years.
According to the Tasnim news agency, Mohsen Hashemi, the son of the late cleric and influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is considered the reformers’ leading candidate. The 62-year-old has neither confirmed the report, nor denied it.
It remains to be seen whether candidates from the reform camp will even be allowed to stand in the election or whether the Guardian Council, as in 2021, will reject their applications in advance for ideological reasons.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
