These candidates, most of them conservative, were authorized to compete in the June 28 presidential election intended to replace Ebrahim Raïssi, who died in a helicopter accident in May.
Six candidates, most of them conservative, were authorized to compete in the June 28 presidential election intended to replace Ebrahim Raïssi, who died in a helicopter accident in May, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.
These candidates were selected by the Council of Guardians of the Constitution, an unelected body dominated by conservatives and responsible for overseeing the electoral process, from among the 80 personalities who submitted their candidacy.
Among the candidates who will be able to campaign are the conservative speaker of Parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran Alireza Zakani and Saïd Jalili, the former ultraconservative nuclear negotiator. Also selected were Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the ultraconservative head of the Martyrs’ Foundation, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister.
A single reformer
The only reformer in the running is Massoud Pezeshkian, an MP from the northwestern city of Tabriz and former health minister. On the other hand, the Council disqualified the populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who at the age of 67 wanted to return to the post of president which he occupied from 2005 to 2013. He had already been excluded in the presidential elections of 2021 and 2017.
Another veteran of the Islamic Republic, Ali Larijani, a former speaker of parliament considered a moderate, was also rejected. The Guardian Council has not publicly justified its choices. In the 2021 election, this body only selected seven candidates out of the 592 applicants, invalidating many reformist and moderate personalities. Which opened the way for Ebrahim Raïssi, the candidate from the conservative and ultraconservative camp, easily elected in the first round. Only 49% of Iranian voters participated in this election, the lowest rate for a presidential election since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
