Six\u00a0candidates have been approved\u00a0by Iran\u2019s theocracy to run in Friday\u2019s presidential election to replace the late\u00a0President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash\u00a0with several other officials in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among them, Iran\u2019s parliament speaker stands out as the most recognizable figure. A little-known politician and heart surgeon is also on the ballot. He is the only reformist while the others are more skewed toward hard-liners who back\u00a0Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u00a0without question and challenge the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if\u00a0previous elections are a guide to Iranian politics, several candidates could drop out in the final days before the vote to coalesce around a unity candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, authorities are not urging the public to vote as vocally as they have in the past, particularly after a parliamentary election earlier in the year that saw the lowest turnout since the country\u2019s 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a look at the candidates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, served as one of Raisi\u2019s vice presidents and as the head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. He ran in the 2021 presidential election and received just under 1 million votes, coming in last place. In debates so far,\u00a0he\u2019s urged the country to continue to follow the policies of Raisi\u00a0and insisted that Iran does not need foreign investment to succeed, despite the widespread\u00a0economic challenges the nation now faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 58-year-old Jaili is a\u00a0hard-line politician and former senior nuclear negotiator. He ran in Iran\u2019s 2013 presidential election and registered in 2021 before withdrawing to support Raisi. Current CIA director Bill Burns, who dealt with Jalili in negotiations in the past, has described him as \u201cstupefyingly opaque\u201d in talks. He got the nickname \u201cThe Living Martyr\u201d after losing a leg in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war. He maintains that Iran doesn\u2019t need to negotiate over its nuclear program with the West. Though he is seen as maintaining close ties to Khamenei, he\u2019s not considered to be a front-runner. His campaign largely has focused on rural voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 69-year-old heart surgeon, Pezeshkian is the only reformist candidate among the hard-line figures seeking the presidency. He\u2019s said he\u2019d want to renegotiate with the West to try and restart some version of the 2015 nuclear deal. He\u2019s put the need for the deal in economic terms, saying Iran needs to communicate with the world. Iran\u2019s former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who served under the relative-moderate President Hassan Rouhani and helped strike the nuclear deal, has backed him. However, analysts believe Pezeshkian would need a heavy turnout to win \u2014 which is unlikely,\u00a0given the current apathy gripping the nation. His campaign has so far focused on the youth vote, women and Iran\u2019s ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pourmohammadi, 64, is the only Shiite cleric running in the election. He served as interior minister under\u00a0hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\u00a0and later as justice minister under Rouhani. In 2006, the United States State Department referred to Pourmohammadi as a \u201cnotorious human rights violator\u201d for a leading role in the 1988 mass execution of several thousand political prisoners at Tehran\u2019s notorious Evin prison. The State Department also linked him to the so-called \u201cchain murders\u201d of activists and others in the 1990s. He\u2019s insisted the next president must deal with the world and criticized Iran\u2019s arming of Russia in the war in Ukraine \u2014 not because of the killing of civilians, but because he felt Tehran wasn\u2019t getting enough back from Moscow for its support. His campaign likely is counting on the backing of clerics and traditionalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0Iranian parliament speaker, Qalibaf, 62, is the highest-ranking official within the theocracy to be seeking the presidency. Analysts suggest he\u2019s the front-runner in the campaign, with Jalili as a second. Qalibaf is a former Tehran mayor with close ties to the country\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Many remember that\u00a0Qalibaf \u2014 as a former Guard general \u2014 was part of a violent crackdown\u00a0on Iranian university students in 1999. He also reportedly ordered live gunfire to be used against students in 2003 while serving as the country\u2019s police chief. Qalibaf maintains that he, as a strong manager, can save Iran from the crisis, borrowing from recent comments made by Khamenei. Qalibaf has focused on the middle class, as well as promising more cash handouts for the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current mayor of Tehran, Zakani, 58, withdrew from the 2021 presidential election to back Raisi. Zakani has said he believes Iran can neutralize the effects of international sanctions but should pursue a diplomatic solution. He is a hard-liner who has repeatedly criticized reformists and moderates within Iran\u2019s political system,\u00a0wants to see Iran stop using the dollar\u00a0as a benchmark currency, and has called for Iran to create more value-added products from its oil to boost revenue. He has promised free health care for women and old people, as well as cash payments to poor people and reviving Iran\u2019s currency, the rial. However, he\u2019s offered no details on how he plans to accomplish these goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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