After Ebrahim Raisi passed away in a plane crash last quarter, Iranian citizens began casting their ballots on Friday for a new president.
Over 80 young candidates, including 4 women, were chosen by the Guardian Council, a strict section of clerics and jurists under the guidance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the country’s highest head. Only six were chosen after the comprehensive selection process.
Alireza Zakani and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, both known as secularists, both withdrew from the competition on Thursday after the Guardian Council approved six candidates for the 2024 vote.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the present parliament leader and former captain of the fierce Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who worked in Khamenei’s workplace for four years, are two other notable hardliners who are still in contention.
Major 4 selected individuals are:
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a follower of Khamenei and former chief of the Iran Revolutionary Guards, now serves as the speech of the legislature, which is dominated by secularists. He has formerly submitted two fruitless political campaigns and withdrew from a third one in 2017 to prevent splitting the conservative voting during Raisi’s first unsuccessful campaign.
In 2005, Qalibaf left the Guards to seek his political interests. He served for 12 years as the president of Tehran, having supported the supreme leader.
Civil rights activists recall that Qalibaf, a federal police chief, actively participated in preventing turmoil in 2003 and resisted protests by physically assaulting demonstrators in 1999.
Massoud Pezeshkian
Pezeshkian, an Azeri Egyptian legislator, stands as the only reasonable candidate approved by the Guardian Council and supported by the revolutionary party. His success depends on getting the large numbers of disenchanted citizens to turn out for him.
Pezeshkian, a medical doctor by vocation, served as health minister from 2001 to 2005 in the liberal government of President Mohammad Khatami. Since 2008, he has been a member of parliament on a permanent basis.
Pezeshkian has publicly criticised the Islamic Republic for its lack of transparency in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s 2022 death, a fresh Egyptian Kurdish woman, that sparked months of unrest.
He was recently prohibited from attempting to run for president in 2021.
Saeed Jalili
Jalili, a radical minister, lost his right leg while fighting for the Guards in the Iran- Iraq conflict during the 1980s. With a PhD in social science, Jalili has boldly expressed his faithful idea in Iran’s “velayat- electronic faqih”, or law by high law, which forms the foundation of Khamenei’s place.
Jalili, who was chosen by Khamenei, held the position of Supreme National Security Council director for five centuries starting in 2007.
Jalili worked in Khamenei’s company for four decades and ran as a participant in the 2013 presidential vote, albeit clumsily, but having formerly served as a deputy foreign secretary, Jalili was appointed by Khamenei in 2013 as a member of the Expediency Council, an institution responsible for resolving conflicts between congress and the Guardian Council.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi
Mostafa, the only cleric in the presidential election campaign, was previously in charge of the interior ministry during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first term of office, which lasted from 2005 to 2008.
From 1990 to 1999, Mostafa served as deputy intelligence minister. He has been accused of involvement in the 1998 assassinations of a number of well-known dissident intellectuals in Iran by rights groups.
In a report released in 2005, Human Rights Watch revealed Mostafa’s alleged involvement in the 1988 execution of hundreds of political prisoners in Tehran.
Voting date and time
The polling stations opened their doors on Friday, June 28th, at 8 am, and are scheduled to close at 6 pm. However, the voting hours are often extended, sometimes until midnight.
The upcoming elections in Iran are not anticipated to have a significant impact on the country’s political trajectory, but the outcome may influence the choice of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 85-year-old supreme leader who has been in power since 1989.
Khamenei urged people to take large-scale elections in large numbers. He said,” The durability, strength, dignity and reputation of the Islamic Republic depend on the presence of people”, adding that” High turnout is a definite necessity”.
Latest polling percentage
According to NYT, the latest polls, published by the conservative, government- run Imam Sadiq University earlier this week showed Masoud Pezeshkian leading with approximately 24.4 % of votes, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf at 23.4 % and Saeed Jalili at 21.5 %. Nearly a fifth of voters were undecided, and less than 5 % of the vote went to the other candidates.
Voter percentage in previous elections
Over the past four years, voter turnout has decreased significantly, as a largely young population becomes more and more unsatisfied with political and social restrictions.
The results are anticipated to be released in two days due to the manual voting process, though preliminary results may be made available earlier.
The declining voter turnout in recent elections, with only 48 % of voters participating in the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power and a record low of 41 % in the parliamentary election three months ago, is evidenced by those who oppose Iran’s clerical leadership.
In the middle of growing Middle Eastern tensions, the upcoming presidential election in Iran is taking place. Israel remains engaged in conflicts with Iran’s proxies, including Hamas, which operates in Gaza, and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.
( With inputs from agencies )
