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Iran’s Shia theocracy aims to streamline the election after record-low turnouts in recent votes. Tensions are high due to the country’s advancing nuclear program and the Israel – Palestine conflict, the Arab Weekly reports on June 10th.
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Iran’s Guardian Council approved the hard-line parliament speaker and five others for the June 28 presidential election after a helicopter crash killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known for the 2009 post-election crackdown, was barred from running again. This decision marks the start of a brief two-week campaign to replace Raisi, a hard-line protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Guardian Council, overseen by Supreme Leader Khamenei, approved a list of candidates for the upcoming presidential election. This move seems aimed at facilitating a smoother election after recent low turnouts and amid high tensions over Iran’s advancing nuclear program and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Сouncil once again excluded women and those advocating for radical change from the candidate list. The campaign is expected to feature live debates on state TV, billboard advertisements, and stump speeches. While candidates have not detailed their plans, they all promise to improve the economy, which is suffering under US and Western sanctions due to Iran’s nuclear activities, now nearing weapons-grade enrichment.
State matters ultimately rest with Khamenei, but past presidents have varied in their approach to the West, opting for either engagement or confrontation.
The leading candidate is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, 62, a former Tehran mayor with close ties to the Revolutionary Guard. Ghalibaf, a former Guard general, was involved in a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999 and reportedly ordered live gunfire against students in 2003 as police chief. He previously ran for president in 2005 and 2013, and withdrew in 2017 to support Raisi, who won in 2021 amid record-low turnout after key opponents were disqualified.
Khamenei’s recent speech highlighted qualities associated with Ghalibaf, suggesting potential support. However, Ghalibaf’s history of crackdowns might be viewed differently after recent unrest over the economy and the 2022 protests following Mahsa Amini’s death.
Other candidates include Saeed Jalili, a former senior nuclear negotiator; Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani; former justice minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi; and Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Raisi’s vice president. Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian is seen as having little chance.
The Guardian Council disqualified former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, both barred in the previous election as well. Former Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati and ex-vice president Eshaq Jahangiri were also disqualified.
The election occurs amid heightened tensions with the West over Iran’s support of Russia in Ukraine and its militia proxies in the Middle East, particularly with Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacking ships in the Red Sea amid the Israel-Palestine conflict.
President Raisi and others were killed in a May 19 helicopter crash in northwest Iran. Investigations are ongoing, but no foul play is suspected. Raisi was the second Iranian president to die in office, after Mohammad Ali Rajai was killed in a 1981 bomb blast following the Islamic Revolution.
The Arab Weekly and agencies