Iran has started registration of candidates for an early presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others.
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.
The registration, which is slated to last for five days, will close on Tuesday June 3, 2024.
The five-day period will see those between the ages of 40 to 75 with at least a master’s degree register as potential candidates.
All candidates ultimately must be approved by Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
That panel has never accepted a woman, for instance, nor anyone calling for radical change within the country’s governance.
The Guardian Council is expected to issue its final list of candidates within 10 days afterwards. That will allow for a shortened two-week campaign before the vote in late June.
June 28, 2024, is the date set for the presidential election.
If no candidate secures a majority, a runoff will be held on July 5,2024.
Iran’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi opened the registration period.
The Interior Ministry, in charge of the country’s police, runs Iranian elections with no substantial international observation.
Interior Minister started the official process of the snap presidential elections last weekend with issuing a decree ordering governors of provinces and cities across Iran to set up election executive committees in their regions within the next three days.
Vahidi confirmed that all necessary preparations have been made, including the establishment of the Election Headquarters, the formation of executive boards, notifications to provincial authorities, and the creation of the advertising commission, as mandated by law.
Addressing the potential for electronic voting, Minister Vahidi indicated that while voter authentication would be conducted electronically, full electronic voting in some cities would require further agreement with the Constitutional Council.
He emphasized the importance of inclusive participation from all political perspectives.
“These elections, like the parliamentary elections, will be held in complete safety and health, with good competition and wide participation of all dear people,” the Minister said.
Mokhber Deemed Likely Front-Runner
The country’s acting President, Mohammad Mokhber, a previously behind-the-scenes bureaucrat, could be a front-runner, because he has already been seen meeting with Khamenei.
Other possible aspirants are former hard-line President, Mohammad Ahmadinejad and former reformist President, Mohammad Khatami — but whether they’d be allowed to run is another question.
Ultimately, who will run and potentially be accepted remains in question as the election comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of the May 19 crash which killed Raisi.
Iran is also struggling with heightened tensions between Tehran and the United States, and protests including those over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini that have swept the country.
While 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.
Raisi, a protege of Khamenei, won Iran’s 2021 presidential election after the Guardian Council disqualified all of the candidates with the best chance to potentially challenge him.
That vote saw the lowest turnout in Iran’s history for a presidential election.
That likely was a sign of voters’ discontent with both a hard-line cleric sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in mass executions in 1988, and Iran’s Shiite theocracy over four decades after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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