Iran presidential election: Registration of hopefuls to begin on Tuesday

Iran is set to begin registering the hopefuls seeking to join the country’s 13th presidential race as of Tuesday, officially beginning the quadrennial process of electing the country’s chief executive.

The registration process is scheduled to start at 8:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday at the Interior Ministry and will last until May 15.

The names will then be handed over to the Constitutional Council, which will vet and pronounce a final ruling on competency of the hopefuls according to constitutional requirement.

This year, the number of registered hopefuls is expected to be lower compared to the country’s previous presidential votes, after the Constitutional Council narrowed the broad qualifications that had been in place for individuals to run in presidential elections.

The Council will have until May 25 to examine the registration documents submitted by the hopefuls. It will then release a final list of presidential candidates on May 26-27.

Ahead of the registration process, many Iranian and foreign media outlets have been speculating about who will be running in the June 18 election and who will have higher chances of getting elected.

Several candidates have already officially announced their presidential bids, while others have only signaled that they would be seeking to run.

This time around, a record number of hopefuls with military background has grabbed much media attention.

Under Iranian election law, men of the military previously had to resign from their posts to get the permission for joining the race, but the Council’s recent updates to the criteria for presidential candidates cleared the way for senior military officials to run.

On Monday, the Council hosted a gathering of officials in charge of holding the upcoming election, including Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazil and the teams tasked with monitoring the voting and vote counting processes.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Constitutional Council, said, “We and the Interior Ministry are cooperating well and are treading the same path toward a healthy election.”

Ayatollah Jannati stressed the sensitivity of the vetting process and reassured that the Council would fulfill the task “precisely.”

He said the recent updates meant to clarify the requirements of presidential candidates would help prevent chaos in the registration process, which used to pose serious problems in earlier elections.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Interior Ministry’s Election Committee, Rahmani Fazli also said all the necessary preparations had been made for holding the election “in a safe and healthy atmosphere filled with enthusiasm.”

Rahmani Fazli added all the security, monitoring and campaign apparatuses were in full coordination with the ministry under his watch.

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