With Larijani, Ahmadinejad disqualified, six main contenders in Iran's elections
Iran’s electoral Guardian Council has approved the candidacy of six political figures for the snap elections that follow the death of Ebrahim Raisi, rejecting dozens of other potential candidates.
Iran’s Interior Ministry announced Sunday the final list of candidates for the upcoming presidential elections that was approved by the hard-line Guardian Council.
The snap elections, slated for June 28, come following the sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month. The incident, which occurred in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, also killed Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other officials.
According to the constitution, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as acting president.
The Guardian Council, a 12-member election supervisory body, approved the names of six people, all male, out of 74 who had submitted their candidacies in the past weeks. Among the most prominent disqualified candidates were former populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani, who is considered a moderate and a Reformist.
