Last Friday witnessed Iranians going to the polls to elect a new President after Ebrahim Raisi Iran lost his life last month in a helicopter crash.
The Guardian Council, an austere panel of clergies and jurists under the command of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is the supreme authority in all state affairs, vetted more than 80 aspirants including four women and out of this only six made it through their rigorous selection process.
Following its approval by the Guardian Council for 2024 elections, other presidential candidates that withdrew from participating in yesterday’s elections are Alireza Zakani and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi both considered hardliners.
Some prominent hardliners still standing are Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who was once commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who worked for four years in Khamenei’s office.
Top 4 selected candidates are:
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf
A supporter of Khamenei and past commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf currently heads parliament which is heavily dominated by hardliners. He had earlier sought presidency twice but dropped out of his third attempt in 2017 so as not to split the vote among conservatives during Raisi’s first failed bid at presidency.
In 2005, Qalibaf left the guards to pursue his ambition for presidency. He was appoint mayor of Tehran with support from the highest-ranking religious leader that he held until very recently.
To human rights activists, however; Qalibaf is know as national police chief whose brutal repression against protestors involved him personally beating demonstrators in 1999 and actively suppressing unrests in 2003.
Massoud Pezeshkian
Pezeshkian otherwise referred to as an Azerbaijani-Iranian MP stands as the only moderate candidate endorsed by the Guardian Council who is support by reformist faction. His success hinges on mobilizing the vast numbers of disaffected voters who have abstained from voting since 2020.
A medical doctor, Pezeshkian served as health minister during President Mohammad Khatami’s reformist administration from 2001 to 2005 and has been in parliament since then.
Pezeshkian criticized the Islamic Republic for its lack of transparency around Mahsa Amini’s custodial death in 2022 that sparked months of unrest.
His previous ban for running came in the previous year’s presidential election.
Saeed Jalili
Jalili, a hardline diplomat, had his right leg amputated when he fought for the Guards during Iran-Iraq war in the eighties. Holding a PhD in political science, Jalili openly confesses his strong support for ‘’velayat-e faqih’’, meaning supreme jurisprudence or rule by Islamic jurists, which is a cornerstone of Khamenei’s doctrine.
Khamenei appointed Jalili to be secretary-general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council where he served until 2012 after having worked with him for five years beginning from 2007.
Throughout four years serving Khamenei at his office and being a losing candidate at presidency contest held in 2013 after holding positions such as Deputy Foreign Minister, Jalili was later made member of Expediency Council instituted by Khamenei in 2013 to handle conflicts between parliament and Guardian council.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi
Hardliner sometimes called Raisi is the only clergyman who will run for the office of president. He served as Minister of Interior from 2005 to 2008, during the first term of hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This respect, Mostafa had been deputy to the intelligence minister between 1990 and 1999. In relation to this, he was accuse by human rights groups for participating in conspiracy to murder a number of dissident intellectuals in Iran in 1998.
In a report published in 2005, Human Rights Watch documented Mostafa’s alleged participation in the execution of hundreds of political prisoners in Tehran in 1988.
Voting Date and Time
On Friday June 28th, at 8.00am the polling stations opened their doors and they will remain open till 6pm. But sometimes voting hours can be extend even up to midnight.
The upcoming election within Iran is unlikely to alter much about its current political direction but could end up determining who succeeds Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an aged eighty-five years old leader holding power since 1989.
Through all elections Khamenei always calls for high voter turnout, arguing that it helps maintain people’s presence while promoting his republic as being sustainable and strong.” “The permanence, strength or honor of Islamic Republic lies on our nation,” he said before continuing that “High turnout is a definite necessity.”
Latest poll percentage
For instance, last week Masoud Pezeshkian was leading with about twenty four point four percent (24.4%) according to recent polls conducted by Imam Sadiq University which is a conservative government-owned institution; Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf had twenty three point four percent (23.4%), while Saeed Jalili was at twenty one point five percent (21.5%). So far, the remaining candidates had less than five percent (5%), and one fifth of voters were undecide.
Voter percentage in previous elections
Over the past four years voter participation has significantly fallen due to a large young population that increasingly feels unhappy about political and social constraints.
Votes are expected to be counted manually, so it may take two days before the results are out although preliminary outcomes can be available earlier.
Opponents of Iran’s ruling clergy point out that voter turnout has been declining over the last few elections, with less than half of those eligible turning up for the 2021 election that brought Raisi into office and only 41% voting in parliamentary polls three months ago – the lowest figure ever recorded since 1979 revolution.
The upcoming presidential election in Iran is taking place amidst escalating tensions in the Middle East. Israel continues to fight with Iran proxies Hamas which controls Gaza strip and Hezbollah situated in Lebanon.
