Tehran- Iranians will choose candidates in an early presidential election on June 28 following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
Only six candidates from over 80 hopefuls survived screening by the Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists which is overseen by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the head of the stste.
The president runs the government day-to-day and has a particular responsibility for Iran’s struggling economy, ultimately answers to the Parliament.
Following are brief sketches of five hardliners and one moderate candidate for the upcoming election:
MOHAMMAD BAQER QALIBAF
A former Iran Revolutionary Guards commander Qalibaf is the current speaker of the hardline-dominated parliament. He previously ran unsuccessfully for president twice and was compelled to withdraw from a third bid in 2017 to prevent a divided hardline vote in Raisi’s initial failed presidential attempt.
SAEED JALILI
Jalili is a hardline diplomat who lost his right leg in the 1980s when fighting for the Guards in the Iran-Iraq war. Holder of a PhD in political science, Jalili has declared being a pious believer in Iran’s “velayat-e faqih”, or rule by supreme jurisprudence, a system of Islamic government.
MASSOUD PEZESHKIAN
An Iranian lawmaker of Azeri ethnicity, Pezeshkian is the moderate candidate backed by the pro-reform camp. His prospects depend on attracting millions of disillusioned voters who have stayed home in elections since 2020.
A physician by profession, Pezeshkian served as the health minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami from 2001 to 2005 and has held a seat in parliament since 2008.
Pezeshkian was barred from the 2021 presidential election.
MOSTAFA POURMOHAMMADI
The only cleric in the race, Pourmohammadi served as interior minister during the first term of hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2005 until 2008.
He was deputy intelligence minister from 1990 to 1999, and rights groups have alleged that he played a role in the assassinations inside Iran of several prominent dissident intellectuals in 1998.
ALIREZA ZAKANI
Tehran’s hardline mayor and a former lawmaker, Zakani was disqualified in 2013 and 2017 from running for president.
The former commander of the Guards’ affiliated volunteer Basij militia, Zakani withdrew from the 2021 presidential race to endorse Raisi’s candidacy. But in a post on X, Zakani said “In the 2024 election, I will stay and compete until the end to continue the path of (Raisi).”
AMIRHOSSEIN GHAZIZADEH-HASHEMI
Incumbent vice president and head of the Martyrs’ Foundation, Ghazizadeh-Hashemi is a hardline former lawmaker who received a low vote tally in the 2021 presidential election.
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