Questions Begin as Registration of Candidates Ends in Iran

The announcement came days after Ghalibaf, a veteran politician and former IRGC general, was re-elected as Speaker of Iran’s parliament, overcoming opposition from ultra-hardliners who had previously criticized his leadership and were vying for his position.

Ghalibaf is said to be close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and enjoys his confidence. They are both originally from the religious city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

Some analysts believe that he has a good chance to receive the backing of Khamenei this time, as he was persuaded to pull out of previous presidential campaigns in favor of other candidates. The most obvious case occurred in 2017, when he conceded in favor of Ebrahim Raisi, who lost the election to Hassan Rouhani.

The re-election as Speaker, which Ghalibaf won with 198 out of 290 votes, followed closely on the heels of President Ebrahim Raisi's sudden death in a helicopter crash. This event has shaken the upper ranks of Iran's clerical government, setting the stage for an election period.

Ghalibaf, like other candidates, must first pass the vetting process by the Guardian Council, which usually rejects most individuals who register.

So far more than 40 former officials and politicians have registered as candidates. The conservative, 12-member Guardian Council will have one week to vet the candidates and officially approve a limited number of these individuals.

The Council, which is under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s control, has rejected hundreds of candidates in parliamentary and presidential elections over the years and specially since 2020. This policy has directly contributed to the dominance of conservatives and hardliners both in the parliament and in the government.

Ghalibaf, 63, has a long and varied career in Iranian politics and military service. He served as the Mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017 and has previously held the positions of Iran's Chief of Police and commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Air Force. Despite previous presidential bids in 2005, 2013, and a withdrawal in 2017 to support Raisi, Ghalibaf's new candidacy signifies his continued ambitions in Iranian politics.

Responding to questions during his registration on Monday about his new presidential campaign and current role as parliament speaker, Ghalibaf simply smiled.

Ghalibaf had had several scandals related to financial corruption among his immediate aides, while he was mayor of Tehran. Some of his aides, who were also former IRGC officers were tried and convicted in cases involving around $5 billion. The sandals surfaced when Ghalibaf’s tenure as mayor ended and ‘reformists’ took over city hall in 2017.

Jahangiri, who served as the Minister of Industries and Mines from 1997 to 2005 under Mohammad Khatami's presidency, has been a contentious figure in Iranian politics, with critics often pointing to his roles during periods marked by economic stagnation.

As vice president and Rouhani's economic point man, he tried to mitigate the impact of US sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in 2018, but both the Rouhani administration and its successor, the Raisi government, failed to resolve a six-year economic crisis that has plagued the country.

In response to a question of whether this is the third Rouhani government, he quipped: "I am Es’haq Jahangiri!"

In response to another question, "Who is your competitor in this election?" Jahangiri replied, "We all must strive to make the people of Iran the winners in this election."

Jahangiri is considered a moderate in the Islamic political system of Iran, and ‘reformists’ may support him if his candidacy is approved by the Guardian Council. He has been a presidential candidate before and has proven to be an effective debater.

So far more than 40 former officials and politicians have registered as candidates. The conservative, 12-member Guardian Council will have one week to vet the candidates and officially approve a limited number of these individuals.

The Council, which is under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s control, has rejected hundreds of candidates in parliamentary and presidential elections over the years and specially since 2020. This policy has directly contributed to the dominance of conservatives and hardliners both in the parliament and in the government.

Before his ministerial role, Jahangiri was the governor of Isfahan Province and also served two terms in Parliament, where his tenure was not without criticism for his strong adherence to the policies of the ruling clerical elite.

Some ‘reformist’ politicians have strongly criticized the registration and approval process as well as the absence of more political heavy-weights among the candidates.

In a tweet Sunday, reformist politician and former secretary general of Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran), Gholamhossein Karbaschi, called the registration of candidates a “comic show or stand-up comedy”.

The former mayor of Tehran accused authorities of wasting the country’s time and money to prepare the public’s mind for the obliteration of the concept of elections as a pillar of democracy.

This apparently referred to the many speculations and discussions over who will eventually be allowed by the Guardian Council to run, making the presidency an ‘appointed’ rather than ‘elected’ office.

“Nice looking suit, a few slow steps, waving the birth certificate and a few camera flashes... That's it!” Saeed Hajjarian, an influential politician often referred to as the ‘theoretician of reforms’, broke his silence and tweeted Sunday.

Hajjarian criticized the registered candidates for neither proposing a “coherent plan”, nor naming their candidates for cabinet positions. “This is not politics and elections whatever its name may be!” he wrote.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Among the politically heavy weight candidates, disqualification of the populist former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who registered on Sunday is almost certain. Many believe he has “registered to be disqualified” to boost his anti-establishment image.

Hardliners and Ultra-Hardliners

Many among hardliners and ultra-hardliners who make up the majority of the registered candidates, including Zohreh Elahian, the only woman registered so far, are unlikely to be approved by the Council whose members are appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, however, has no concerns over his qualification to run. If elected, his government will most likely be a replica of Ebrahim Raisi’s over whose administration Jalili wielded much influence.

Many believe that Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, has registered to run only in a supporting role and may withdraw in Jalili’s favor, as Jalili did for Raisi in 2021, or help him against other candidates in election debates.

It remains to be seen whether Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and Raisi’s minister of road and urban development, Mehrdad Bazrpash, will appear at the interior ministry on Monday, the last day of registrations.

Ali Larijani

Former moderate conservative speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, who was barred from running in 2021 may or may not be allowed to stand. Larijani, observers say, is counting on Khamenei’s intervention to be approved.

‘Reformists’

So far four ‘reformists’ have registered to run but none has yet been declared as the candidate of the Reforms Front. ‘Reformists’ had indicated that they were willing to participate in the elections provided that the ruling establishment allows them to field their own candidates.

The umbrella reformist decision-making body has so far insisted that it will not support any candidates from outside the reformist camp like 2013 and 2017 elections in which it supported moderate conservative Hassan Rouhani.

At least one of the four reformists who have registered, namely former lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi who registered on Sunday, is unlikely to be approved.

Like Larijani, former lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian whose popularity seems to be more than the other registered reformists is believed to be counting on Khamenei’s intervention.

Former lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi, a vocal critic of Khamenei, is very unlikely to be approved.

The umbrella reformist decision-making body is to hold another meeting Sunday evening to decide its position.

Former Governor of the Central Bank and a member of the Kargozaran, Naser Hemmati, is very likely to be approved but has little chance of winning, observers say. Hemmati was approved to run against Raisi in 2012 but his bid to presidency was not supported by other reformist parties and groups.

Hemmati came third with around 2.5 million votes (8.4 percent) after Mohsen Rezaei. In the same elections, a staggering 13 percent of voters had cast void or blank ballots.

Karbaschi, a prominent figure in the centrist, pro-reform Executives of Construction Party, said, "They [the government] have turned the country's main symbol of democracy into a stand-up comedy," amid the sham elections which will ultimately nominate someone chosen by the country's Supreme Leader.

Karbaschi, a close ally of former President Mohammad Khatami, was previously arrested and imprisoned on corruption charges in a case that the New York Times described as "widely seen among moderates as a politically motivated attack" by conservatives and hard-liners. It was perceived as an effort to suppress Khatami's reformist agenda.

Echoing Karbaschi's sentiments, Saeed Hajarian, a reformist theorist, also voiced his concerns over the superficiality of the candidate registration for the upcoming presidential election. 

On X, he criticized the absence of substance behind the spectacle: "A neat suit, a few slow steps, showing the ID card, a few camera flashes... That's it! They talk neither of a coherent plan nor of the potential members of an effective cabinet."

The debacle comes in the wake of the sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19, which precipitated the current snap election set for June 28. With registration ongoing since Thursday and ending Monday, nearly 90 percent of the candidates hail from the pro-regime camp.

The Guardian Council, however, had earlier disqualified him from running in the 2020 legislative elections, and is unlikely to approve him this time either.

The Council dominated by Khamenei’s conservative loyalists has barred hundreds of regime insiders from running in elections since 2020.

The field of candidates is dominated by conservatives and hardliners. 'Reformists' are still undecided about fielding a candidate, and Sadeghi would hardly be chosen as their main candidate.

Sadeghi, a former Shia cleric, wrote on Twitter in 2021, "The function of reformist and moderate governments is to get the system [regime] out of its crises, then the system will throw them away like a used handkerchief."

So far nearly two dozen politicians have registered, including several hardliners close to the Supreme Leader.