Iran is choosing an ideal president. What is there to understand here?

“Ebrahim Raisi was elected in a completely uncompetitive election in 2021 when the results were predetermined,” said Arash Azizi, an editor and historian specializing in Iran. He said, “This time the results are not predetermined.”,

According to Iran’s political system, the President has limited power. The favored leader of the Islamic Republic – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – exercises direct and indirect control over all branches of government, except the military and the media. However, the subsequent presidency will have a significant impact on everyday life, including religious requirements and dress restrictions – resulting in it becoming harder for women to self-govern in the theocracy in a country recently rocked by protests. ,

Tallying of votes can take place on Sunday. Although experts believe that none of the six contenders will win a simple majority, in such a situation Iranians will again participate in an election in July between the two major contenders.

People seeking election to the presidency or parliament of Iran must obtain approval from the Basic Council, which vets applicants to ensure that they adhere to the foundations of the Islamic Republic. In practice, all 12 members of the council – six clerics and six jurists – are appointed directly or indirectly by Khamenei.

80 applicants participated in the race to become President. The Council authorized six, all of whom are men. Iran watchers told The Washington Post that many of the contenders could lose in the final round, throwing their weight behind a solidarity candidate as in the week’s elections.

Ghalibaf, 62, has served as speaker of parliament since 2020 and was mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017. He has an extensive military history – including 3 years as commander of the Islamic Modern Barricade Corps’ Breeze Force – and maintains similar ties to the IRGC, a formidable political operation inside the Islamic Republic. A conservative, Ghalibaf is known for his role in the harsh crackdown on student protesters in Iran, serving first as an IRGC general and then as a policeman.

Even though he served as the country’s nuclear negotiator, Jalili is critical of world talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Jalili, 58, is a member of the Council of Expedient Discretion, which was initially set out to get to the bottom of disputes between Parliament and the Parliamentary Council, but in practice acts as an advisory body to Khamenei. , If elected, Jalili is expected to continue a crackdown on anti-government protesters and Iranian women accused of violating the country’s crucial hijab rules.

Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashmi

Hashemi, 53, was once one of Raisi’s vice presidents and has campaigned to continue the former president’s policies, including strengthening Iran’s ties with its neighbors.

Pezeshkian, described by analysts as the only reformist in the race, is a heart surgeon who has focused his campaign primarily around Iranian women, youth and ethnic minorities. He has taken a second nuclear forum from Jalili in exchange for a campaign aimed at restarting nuclear talks with the West. Pezeshkian, 69, served as deputy speaker of Iran’s parliament from 2016 to 2020, strongly supported the 2015 nuclear resolution, and challenged the credible government story about the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman. . In police custody, then detained for allegedly not wearing hijab.

Pourmohammadi is the only cleric in the race. Pourmohammadi, 64, a conservative, first served as interior minister under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then as justice minister under President Hassan Rouhani. Like Raisi, Pourmohammadi played a leading role in the execution of hundreds of political prisoners held in Iranian prisons in 1988.

Zakani, 58, has been the mayor of Tehran since 2021 and was a member of parliament from 2004 to 2016, later serving again from 2020 to 2021. He tried to run for president in 2013 and 2017, but did not receive his mother’s support. Or Dad Council until 2021, when he finally stepped down from Raisi again. Zakani’s platform includes reviving Iran’s foreign currency, the rial, as well as guaranteeing a deal with isolated conditions for girls and the elderly.

The 74 ineligible applicants include government officials and legislators – even a former president – ​​as well as seven women.

“Only those who accept the basic principles of this deeply undemocratic system of the Islamic Republic have ever been allowed to walk,” Azizi said.

If Iranians ultimately vote, it will support the only reformist candidate.

Azes Pezeshkian is considered the only reformist in the six-candidate line-up, with some seeing him as a potential leading contender.

“It really depends on voter turnout,” said Michelle Griese, a senior coverage researcher at RAND. “Allowing Pezeshkian to run could be seen as an attempt to increase voter turnout, but we will see if he will be successful in appealing to voters who are overwhelmingly disenchanted at this point.”

According to Griese, less than half of voters turned out to vote in the latest presidential election in 2021, and March’s parliamentary elections saw traditionally low turnout.

However, the 2021 election was largely considered to be in Raisi’s favor, prompting many Iranians – particularly those angered by the ayatollah’s conservative rule – to boycott the vote entirely.

“The question is, ‘Do Iran’s moderates come out on Pezeshkian’s side, or do they not come out at all?'” explained Heather Williams, a senior policy researcher at RAND, adding that the regime “wants the vote, even though they Will do this” rather than finding out for whom the voting is going to come.

Extreme Elections being held early after unexpected death of President

Presidential elections were scheduled to be held in Iran later in 2025, but due to Raisi’s unexpected death the elections were moved up by a year. Raisi died in a helicopter crash on 19 May at the age of 63. In line with the charter of the Islamic Republic, a special election must be held within 50 days.

Elected in 2021, Raisi was largely considered the winner of a rigged race, an attempt by the ayatollahs to maintain their conservative rule. Some analysts believed that Raisi was once the desired successor to the Ayatollah.

Following Amini’s death in 2022, mass protests took place in Iran and around the world demanding the separation of the theocracy. Raisi oversaw a security crackdown that left more than 500 people dead, according to a report by the NGO Iran Human Rights. Iran then announced that it had pardoned more than 22,000 people arrested.

Raisi’s death came at a time of increasing instability and violence in the Middle East. The war in Gaza has escalated the oft-escalated tensions between Iran and Israel, as violence has escalated on Lebanon’s southern border, within the Pink Sea and in Syria and Iraq, The Publish Age has reported. In April, Raisi oversaw the largest Iranian attack ever against Israel in retaliation for a deadly Israeli attack on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria.

In Iran, maximum political power rests with the popular leader.

Constitutionally, the President is second only to the preferred leader, holding most of the power and, according to Grice, is the “final decision-making authority” on national security and defense. The ayatollah has recently “effectively encroached” on the president’s purview, Azizi said, and has seized additional power.

Alternatively, as head of the presidency, the president retains responsibilities over day-to-day operations in Iran, including overseeing nationwide finances and signing laws and treaties.

Importantly, the presidency of the Islamic Republic influences how strict its morality police are in enforcing the theocracy’s religious codes and ethnic restrictions, as well as the limits of self-rule that Iran’s media are willing to enforce. Is authorized.

“Then there are also some day-to-day freedoms that maybe we don’t think about as much, like who is allowed to attend sporting events or how many people are allowed to gather in public, or whether women are allowed to walk in public. “We are allowed to dance,” Williams said.