Successor to fallen Raisi
Reformers and hardliners are neck and neck in Iran election
29.06.2024, 10:01 a.m.
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On May 19, the Iranian president dies in a helicopter crash. Just a few weeks later, the people can choose a successor from four candidates. The race is close and participation is low.
In the early presidential election in Iran, the moderate politician Massoud Peseschkian and the hardliner Said Jalili are going into a runoff. The former health minister Peseschkian received the most votes with 42.5 percent. Dashalili, the ultra-conservative former negotiator for the Iranian nuclear program, received 38.7 percent of the votes in second place. This was announced by a spokesman for the election authority on Iranian state television. The runoff will be held on July 5.
… Hardliner Jalili has the most supporters in Iran.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP)
Far behind Peseschkian and Jalili, the incumbent parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf came in third place with around 13.8 percent of the vote. The Islamic cleric Mostafa Purmohammadi came in last with less than one percent of the vote.
A total of around 61 million citizens of the Islamic Republic were called upon to vote on Friday. The electoral authority counted a total of just over 24 million votes cast. This means that voter turnout is a historically poor 40 percent. In the last presidential election in 2021, it was around 49 percent.
Little hope for improvement
Most of the country’s inhabitants, especially young people, have lost faith in major domestic political changes. Some activists and the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi called for a boycott of the election. Since the 1979 revolution, political power in Iran has been held by the country’s spiritual leader. The president is responsible for implementing the political guidelines set by the clergyman.
The election, originally planned for 2025, had to be brought forward because the conservative incumbent Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash on May 19. The election is being followed with great attention abroad, as Iran is a political heavyweight in the region and is involved in several conflicts, such as the Gaza war.
No free elections
During the election campaign, the candidates mainly debated ways to overcome the country’s enormous economic crisis. The country needs billions in investments. However, Iran is subject to international sanctions because of its controversial nuclear program and is largely cut off from the global financial system.
Since the revolution of 1979, Iran’s political system has combined republican and theocratic elements. However, there are no free elections: the Guardian Council’s control body always checks candidates for their suitability. Fundamental criticism of the system is not tolerated, as the suppression of protests in recent years has shown.