Here are the candidates for Iran’s Presidential election

Iran is set to elect its new president on June 28, Friday, in a vote that has been brought forward following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.

The election not been due until 2025, but was brought forward due to an unexpected demise of Ebrahim Raisi last month.

The snap poll comes at a challenging time as Iran grapples with the economic impact of international sanctions amid heightened regional tensions over the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.

Candidates

As many as six candidates were nominated for the presidential polls.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Saeed Jalili, Massoud Pezeshkian, Alireza Zakani, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, and Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi.

The candidates have staged a low-key campaigns, and held debates where they vowed to tackle economic challenges and offered varied views on Iran’s relations with the West.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, 62, the current speaker of Iran’s parliament, has long hoped to become president. He also ran in the 2005 and 2013 presidential elections but failed. He pulled out of the 2017 presidential race in favour of the ultra-conservative Raisi.

Saeed Jalili

The 58-year-old is seen as a beloved figure in the Iranian regime’s ultra-conservative group. Jalili was Iran’s top negotiator in international negotiations on the country’s nuclear program.

He is currently a member of the “Gathering Assessment System”, which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has set up to end disputes between Iran’s parliament and the Guardian Council.

Like Qalibaf, Jalili ran for president in 2013 and dropped his candidacy in 2017 in favor of Raisi.

Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi

According to Iranian media, Hashemi, 53, withdrew from the presidential race and urged other candidates to do the same so that the front of the revolution could be strengthened.

Massoud Pezeshkian

Former health minister Massoud Pezeshkian is believed to be more moderate than his presidential rivals. The 69-year-old leader tried to run in 2021 but was disqualified by the Guardian Council.

Allowing Pezeshkian to contest elections in 2024 can be seen as a government strategy to increase turnout by mobilizing more liberal voters. However, their chances of success are slim.

Mostafa Pourmohammadi

Mostafa Pourmohammadi is the only cleric running for president this year. Mostafa, 64, served as interior minister from 2005 to 2008 and minister of justice from 2013 to 2017 in President Ahmadinejad’s government.

In the 1980s, he worked as a prosecutor in revolutionary courts and later as deputy intelligence minister. They are allegedly linked to mass executions of political prisoners.

Alireza Zakani

Zakani, 58, is another hardline leader and current mayor of Tehran. The Guardian Council rejected his presidential candidacy in 2013 and 2017. In 2021, he was allowed to contest, but then he gave up his candidacy in favor of Ibrahim Raisi.