On Saturday, Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, the country’s election oversight body, approved six candidates to run in the upcoming presidential election.
The vetting process began on June 4, following a five-day registration period during which hundreds of hopefuls submitted their nomination papers at the Interior Ministry in Tehran.
Only a select number of applications were accepted, as many did not meet the minimum eligibility criteria established by the country’s electoral authorities.
The constitutionally mandated investigative body took six days to study the credentials of the candidates, including many high-profile names, and finalized the list on Saturday.
This list was then sent to the Ministry of the Interior, which announced the names to the media.
The six candidates approved to run for president are:
- Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf: The current speaker of Parliament who previously participated in presidential elections. In 2021, he endorsed President Raisi instead of running.
- Said Jalili: Former chief nuclear negotiator and head of the country’s main security agency. He withdrew from the 2021 race in favor of Raisi.
- Masud Pezeshkian: Veteran legislator representing Tabriz in the Iranian Parliament and former vice president (2016-2020).
- Mostafa Purmhamadi: Veteran politician and judicial official, previously Minister of the Interior (2005-2008) and Minister of Justice (2013-2017).
- Alireza Zakani: former senior legislator and current mayor of Tehran. She withdrew from the 2021 presidential race in favor of Raisi.
- Amirhosein Qazizade Hashemi: Former legislator and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, currently serving as director of the Iranian Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation.
The early presidential election follows the death of President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi and his companions in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on May 19.
According to Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, in the event that a president dies, resigns, is incapacitated, or is removed from office for more than two months without replacement, the first vice president assumes the mandate.
Mohamad Mojber, who was Raisi’s first vice president, has been serving as interim president since May 19 with the approval of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
Raisi was not the first Iranian president to die in office.
In 1981, the terrorist group Mujahideen Khalq (MKO) assassinated then-president Mohammad Ali Rayai. New elections were called and Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, currently Leader of the Islamic Revolution, was elected to succeed Rayai after a landslide victory.
