The Guardian Council in Iran has approved the candidacy of six candidates, most of whom are conservatives, including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, for the presidential elections scheduled for June 28, the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday. The council, which is a non-elected body dominated by conservatives responsible for approving candidates and overseeing elections, has permitted six individuals out of 80 who applied to run following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
The candidates announced are: Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, Masoud Pezeshkian, Amir Hossein Qazizadeh, Ali Reza Zakani, and Saeed Jalili. The final list did not include prominent names such as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, while it included one reformist candidate, Pezeshkian, according to AFP.
The Guardian Council had previously excluded Ahmadinejad from running in the 2017 presidential elections, which were won by Hassan Rouhani, and again in the 2021 elections, which were won by Ebrahim Raisi. The council also rejected Larijani's eligibility to run in the 2021 presidential elections, which were won by Raisi, who did not complete his term.
The Guardian Council began a five-day process last Tuesday to determine the eligible candidates for the elections, which were decided to be held following the death of President Raisi and his companions in a plane crash during an internal trip last month.
Earlier on Sunday, rumors and speculations circulated regarding the approval of candidates for the urgent presidential elections, while the Guardian Council's spokesperson, Hadi Tahan Nazif, stated that "intensive meetings are being held to verify the qualifications of the candidates for the presidential elections."
Iranian authorities encourage widespread public participation in the presidential elections to avoid a repeat of voter apathy, which was witnessed in the legislative elections in early March, where official reports indicated a turnout of about 42% and unofficial sources reported about 38%, both confirming the lowest participation rate since the 1979 revolution.
