By Ramadhan Abbey
Tehran
Iran on Thursday 30, 2024 commenced the registration process for the upcoming June presidential election, to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi passed away on May 19, 2024 in a helicopter accident.
The sudden presidential vote is scheduled for June 28 following the death of former President Raisi and others in a helicopter crash on May 19.
According Ahmad Vahidi, the Iran’s Interior Minister said the process starts at 8:00am to 04:00pm at Ministry of Interior in Iran’s Capital Tehran
He noted that the registration process that started on Thursday May 30, 2024 will continue until June 3, after which the Guardian Council, the country’s top vetting body, will review the qualifications of candidates.
The list of qualified candidates will be released on June 11, and qualified candidates will have two weeks to campaign before the voting on June 28, Vahidi said at a press conference on Thursday.
Ahmad Vahidi noted that the interior ministry, in charge of the country’s police, runs Iranian elections with no substantial international observation.
“These elections, like the parliamentary elections, will be held in complete safety and health, with good competition and wide participation of all dear people,” Vahidi said.
Raisi 63, died alongside seven others including Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, Malik Rahmati, governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-Hashem, representative of the Iranian supreme leader to East Azerbaijan and Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, head of Raisi’s guard team
The three pilots were Behraz Ghadime, Mahsen Daryanaash and Taher Mostatavi and also Maraghen.
The tragic incident happened in AzerbDizmar forest, located between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azerbaijan province, where the aircraft had a “rough landing” in heavy fog
Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the Islamic Revolution.
After the death of Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has since assigned Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president in accordance with the constitution.
What does the constitution say?
In accordance with the Iranian Constitution, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber assumes presidential powers until new elections are held within 50 days.
Thirty contenders dropped over lack of basic conditions for qualification
On Thursday, state media reported that “around 30 people” came forward to submit applications for candidacy, but “none of them met the basic conditions for qualification”.
Possible candidates
Five nominated on the first day
On the first day of registration for Iran’s presidential election, only five nominations were accepted by the country’s election headquarters, including that of a former nuclear negotiator.
The most high-profile candidate to register on Thursday was Saeed Jalili, a senior conservative politician who has previously served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and as the lead nuclear negotiator in talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
Many of his supporters, including some lawmakers, had gathered outside the election headquarters in Tehran when he arrived to register his candidacy.
Speaking to the media after filing his nomination, Jalili said the country faces a “historic opportunity” that must not be neglected, making a strong case for his presidency.
“The next president should understand the great capital of the nation like the martyred president,” he said, paying respect to Raisi and his companions killed in the helicopter crash.
He said his focus, if elected, would be on “service, honesty, efficiency, and justice.”
Jalili was a contestant in the 2021 presidential election but withdrew from the race in the later stages in favor of Raisi, who eventually won by a landslide.
In the 2013 presidential election, he finished in third place after eventual winner Hassan Rouhani and runner-up Bagher Ghalibaf.
Other candidates were Mostapha Kavakebian, head of the Mardomsalari Party, and senior lawmakers, Mohammad Sabbaghian, Ghadrat Ali Heshmatian, and Abbas Moqtadaei.
Sabbaghian, one of the first to file his nomination, said his main priority, if elected, would be to reform the country’s political and economic structure.
Kavakebian, a former lawmaker and reformist political figure, announced that his slogan would be “democracy” and “honest dealing with people.”
Others who are expected to register
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a political ally of former President Hassan Rouhani, is also reportedly being asked to run.
Mokhber, the caretaker president, could also file his candidacy.
The final list of candidates will be announced on June 11 by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body of jurists whose members are either appointed or approved by the supreme leader.
The body disqualified multiple reformist figures ahead of the 2021 presidential election, which eventually helped the ultraconservative Raisi win.
The election saw a record-low turnout for a presidential poll at just 48.8 percent of all the registered voters.
The June vote will be held during a turbulent time, as the Gaza war rages between Iran’s arch foe Israel and Tehran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, and amid continued diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.
After the five-day registration period, the Guardian Council, which oversees elections and legislation, will vet the candidates running for the presidency.
Although preparation for the election continues, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, maintains final say over all matters of state, presidents in the past have bent the Islamic Republic of Iran toward greater interaction or increased hostility with the West.
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