Two former Iranian MPs, Ali Motahari and Mahmoud Sadeghi, known for criticizing the authorities, officially registered their candidacies for the presidential elections scheduled for June 18, as reported by journalists from AFP in Tehran on Thursday. Their candidacies were previously rejected for the 2020 parliamentary elections by the Guardian Council, which has the final say in approving the eligibility of candidates.
Ali Motahari, 63, is a well-known moderate figure who served for three consecutive parliamentary terms from 2008 to 2020. He is recognized for his strong rhetoric against former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013). During his last term, he consistently criticized the authority's practices and the repression of dissenting voices. He has persistently called for the lifting of house arrest on Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who led the "Green Movement" during the massive protests against Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009. He is the son of Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, a thinker of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and a close associate of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. While he holds conservative views on some social issues, Motahari has announced that he is running as an independent candidate.
Mahmoud Sadeghi, 59, is a reformist lawyer who served one term (2016-2020) as a member of parliament, during which he was the spokesperson for the reformists. The period for submitting candidacies for next month's elections to choose a successor to President Hassan Rouhani opened on Tuesday and will continue until Saturday. The final list of candidates is expected to be announced by May 27, followed by a 20-day electoral campaign. The Interior Ministry has so far received more than a hundred candidacy requests, most of them from unknown individuals.
