Iranian elections: Mostly hard-line candidates have been approved to run in the upcoming presidential elections

CNN
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The Iranian Election Commission has approved a list of mostly hard-line candidates to run in the presidential elections scheduled for next June 28, after the presidential elections. Helicopter crash Which killed President Ibrahim Raisi and other officials last month.

Out of 80 initial nominees, only six individuals were approved in the vetting process conducted by Iran’s Guardian Council, a powerful 12-member body charged with overseeing elections and legislation. There were four women on the longest list and none were approved.

The list includes the hard-line speaker of parliament and former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf, and Saeed Jalili, the former chief nuclear negotiator and former head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s highest security body.

The competition between Qalibaf and Jalili, both of whom supported Raisi in the 2021 presidential elections, is expected to intensify.

He added, “(Ghalibaf) and Jalili stand on two competing conservative poles and are unlikely to withdraw in favor of the other.” Written by Sina al-Tusian Iran analyst based in Washington, D.C., and a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, said in a post on X.

The list also includes Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Ali Reza Zakani, and Mostafa Pour Mohammad, all of whom are also militants.

However, the Guardian Council also approved Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist lawmaker who served as deputy speaker of parliament from 2016 to 2020.

Pezeshkian is expected to have a slim chance in the race. Al-Islaheen newspaper on Sunday Published by Al-Sharq daily newspaper A photo of the six candidates with the caption “One against five.”

During the Mahsa Amini protests in September 2022, Pezeshkian He said in an interview“It is our fault. We want to implement religious doctrine through the use of force. This is scientifically impossible.”

However, “if the conservative vote splits, Pezeshkian could get more than 50% of the vote and win in the first round,” Tosi said, adding that the outcome nonetheless “hinges on the turnout of the traditional reformist base, which boycotted the election.” “The last several elections.”

Notably absent from the list of approved candidates are President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. Both men have been disbarred by the Guardian Council.

Raisi’s death and the approaching vote come at a sensitive time for a country facing unprecedented challenges at home and abroad. The Islamic Republic’s economy remains crippled by US sanctions, its young population is increasingly restless, and the country faces increasingly hostile adversaries in the Middle East and beyond.

The June 28 election also comes amid declining confidence in the establishment, leading to low voter turnout in a country that traditionally boasts exceptionally high voter participation. In the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections held in March, Iran recorded the lowest turnout since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979, despite the government’s efforts to mobilize voters ahead of the vote.