Iran has opened a five-day registration period for candidates wanting to run in the June 28 presidential election to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash along with seven others earlier this month.
The election comes as Iran is grappling with widespread protests across the country, including in the aftermath of the May 19 crash, rising tensions between Tehran and the United States, and protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, retains final say on all state affairs, successive presidents have steered the Islamic Republic towards greater ties and growing hostility with the West.
During this five-day period, people between the ages of 40 and 75 who have at least a master's degree can register as candidates.
All candidates must ultimately be approved by Iran's 12-member Guardian Council, a council of clerics and jurists that ultimately reports to Ayatollah Khamenei. The council has never approved a woman or anyone calling for radical changes to the country's ruling system.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi opened the registration period. The Interior Ministry, which also oversees Iran's police, runs Iran's elections without any real international oversight.
“These elections, like the parliamentary elections, will be held in complete safety and hygiene, with healthy competition and wide participation of all our valued people,” the minister said.
Raisi, a protege of Ayatollah Khamenei, won Iran's 2021 presidential election after the Guardian Council disqualified all candidates likely to challenge him.
The vote marked the lowest turnout in the history of Iranian presidential elections, and turnout was even lower in parliamentary elections this year amid widespread calls for a boycott.
This was likely a reflection of voter discontent with both hardline clerics sanctioned by the United States for their role in the 1988 mass executions, and Iran's Shiite theocracy that has endured more than four decades since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
It remains unclear who will run and who might be hired.
The country's acting president, Mohammed Mokbel, a former backbencher, has already been seen meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei and is a likely front-runner.
Possible candidates include hardline former president Mohammed Ahmadinejad and reformist former president Mohammed Khatami, but whether they will be allowed to run is another matter.
The five-day registration period ends on Tuesday, after which the Guardian Council is expected to publish a final list of candidates within 10 days, allowing for a condensed two-week campaign before the vote in late June.
While a new president takes office, the country is now enriching nearly weapons-grade uranium and thwarting international inspections.
Iran supplied weapons to Russia during the Ukraine war, launched drone and missile attacks on Israel during the Gaza war, and continues to supply arms to proxies across the Middle East, including Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Iran's economy has been struggling for many years due to the collapse of its currency, the rial.
Widespread protests have swept across the country, most recently over the death of Amini, who was arrested after refusing to wear a mandatory headscarf against the wishes of authorities. A UN inquiry has said the Iranian government is responsible for the “physical violence” that led to her death.
Raisi is only the second Iranian president to die in office: Mohammed Ali Rajaei was killed in a bomb attack in 1981 during the turmoil that followed the Islamic Revolution.
