Ebrahim Noroozi
On Saturday, the last day for registration, a favorite trio – a reformer, a conservative and an archconservative – officially registered for the election at the Interior Ministry in Tehran. President Hassan Ruhani is no longer allowed to run after two terms in office.
Vice President Eshagh Dschahangiri applied from the government camp. He is considered a reserve candidate because the reformers around Ruhani actually wanted to send Foreign Minister Mohammed Jawad Sarif into the race as the top candidate. However, the 61-year-old canceled, as did the head of the Iranian nuclear authority, Ali Akbar Salehi, as Sarif’s alternative. All that was left was Jahangiri, who for a long time was one of the most popular politicians in the country. But as Vice President, the 64-year-old has taken an overly conservative course over the past three years. In doing so, he disappointed many reform supporters.
The undisputed top candidate of the archconservatives and hardliners is the head of justice Ebrahim Raeissi. The 60-year-old cleric loyal to the regime is also considered the establishment’s preferred candidate. Raeissi also ran four years ago, but failed at Ruhani. As a politician he is a blank slate, but is considered very influential in clergy circles. Reformers accuse him of wanting to restrict social freedoms and women’s rights.
The third member of the federal government is the former President of Parliament Ali Larijani. The 63-year-old was considered anti-reform for a long time. As a chief nuclear negotiator, he worked in the hardline government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. After a few differences with Ahmadinejad, he distanced himself not only from him, but also from the entire hardliner camp. Since then he has been considered to be moderately conservative. From the point of view of commentators, he would pursue a political course similar to that of Ruhani.
In total, dozens of former government and authority representatives, including some ex-generals of the Revolutionary Guard, applied for the office. Never before has there been so many candidates for presidential election in the history of the Islamic Republic. Ahmadinejad has also registered. It will most likely be rejected by the so-called Guardian Council because of its harsh criticism of the electoral system.
According to the constitution, the Guardian Council acts as a control body for the ideological qualifications of the candidates in the run-up to the election. The names of the final admission candidates will be announced at the end of the month.