The registration period has begun for candidates who want to participate in the Iranian presidential elections in just over a month.
To register their bids, candidates must appear in person at the Ministry of Home Affairs in the next five days.
The early elections were called because the previous incumbent president, Ebrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter accident on May 19.
Once all candidates have registered, Iran’s Guardian Council will decide within a week which ones are ideologically suitable for the post of president.
The council is a powerful supervisory body made up of Muslim clerics and lawyers. Politicians from the reformist camp in particular have often been excluded from elections in the past.
Observers are waiting to see whether the Guardian Council will allow more moderate candidates to run. Otherwise, arch-conservatives and hardliners will likely continue to determine the country’s political future.
The candidates approved by the Guardian Council will then have two weeks to campaign.
If no one wins an absolute majority of votes in the first round of elections on June 28, a second election a week later will determine who will become the future president.
Since Raisi’s death, the country has been buzzing with rumors about possible successors.
Ex-presidents Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are among those most often mentioned in connection with the presidency.
Only Raisi’s deputy Mohammad Mokhber and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili have so far confirmed they will stand as candidates. Both are arch-conservatives and would most likely continue Raisi’s policies.
Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, who is seen as a moderate conservative, is also expected to be a candidate.
On the reformist side, Mohsen Hashemi, the son of the late cleric and influential ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is being touted as a leading candidate, according to Tasnim news agency.
While the 62-year-old has not confirmed reports that he will run for office, he has not denied them either.
