Iran’s hard-line ex-president registers for June 28 presidential election

Iran’s hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered on June 2 as a possible candidate for the presidential election.

He is seeking to regain the country’s top political position after a helicopter crash killed the nation’s president, according to AP.

Ahmadinejad is the most prominent candidate to register so far. Speaking after his registration, he vowed to seek “constructive engagement” with the world and improved economic relations with all nations.

“The economic, political, cultural and security problems are beyond the situation in 2013,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to the year he left the presidency after two terms.

An election is planned June 28 to replace Khamenei’s hard-line protégé President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May along with seven other people.

The five-day registration period will close on June 4, and the Guardian Council is expected to issue its final list of candidates within 10 days. That will allow for a shortened two-week campaign before the vote in late June.

Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms from 2005 to 2013. Under Iranian law, he became eligible to run again after four years out of office, but he remains a polarizing figure even among fellow hard-liners.

Ahmadinejad remains popular among the poor for his populist efforts and home-building programs.

Khamenei warned Ahmadinejad in 2017 that his standing for office again would be a “polarized situation” that would be “harmful for the county.” Khamenei said nothing during Ahmadinejad’s 2021 attempt, when his candidacy was rejected by the 12-member Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei. That panel has never accepted a woman or anyone calling for radical change to the country’s governance.

That panel could reject Ahmadinejad again. However, the race to replace Raisi has yet to draw a candidate with clear, overwhelming support from Khamenei.