Iran. New presidential elections. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was prevented from running for president

Iran’s presidential election is scheduled for June 28, and the Guardian Council’s decision on Sunday marks the beginning of an abbreviated campaign. The tasks of the twelve-person council include, among others: interpreting the constitution, supervising elections, approving nominees for members of the Assembly of Experts, and the president and members of the House of Representatives.

The council banned former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardline populist who kept the country in international isolation by refusing to negotiate Iran’s nuclear program, from running.

The most prominent candidate is Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the former mayor of Tehran and the current speaker of the unicameral Iranian parliament. The politician ran for president in 2005 and 2013 unsuccessfully. He withdrew from the presidential campaign in 2017 to support Raisi in his first unsuccessful presidential campaign. Raisi won the 2021 elections, which saw the lowest voter turnout in Iran’s history.

Last week, Iran’s supreme spiritual and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave a speech indicating support for Ghalibaf’s candidacy, the Associated Press reported.

Helicopter crash that killed, among others, President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullah and two high-ranking military commanders met on May 19 near Julfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. It was said that the accident occurred due to difficult weather conditions.

Read more: Helicopter accident with the Iranian president. Who is Ibrahim Raisi?