Why the Coming Iranian Elections Will Challenge the Biden Administration
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei seems inclined to promote a candidate who will quash dissent over someone who could work with the West.
Ebrahim Raisi speaks to his supporters in Tehran. (Photo graph by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images.)
In the past, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader inevitably gave a speech before a presidential election extolling how the revolution welcomed variety among the men running for office. This was never true, of course: Ali Khamenei and his minions on the Guardian Council, which supervises elections, have always tried to prune off those who didn’t have the right stuff, especially if they might threaten the system. But there was some latitude. Men of revolutionary stature, sometimes equal to or greater than that of the supreme leader’s, could go at it. Sometimes Khamenei even made too-inclusive mistakes, as happened in 2009 when the pro-democracy Green Movement shook the country.
Several hundred dissidents and activists in an open letter last month called on voters to boycott Iran's presidential election, describing it as little more than a “formality.”
Several hundred dissidents and activists in an open letter last month called on voters to boycott Iran's presidential election, describing it as little more than a “formality.”
May 25, 2021 at 10:45 pm | Published in: Iran, Middle East, News
A general view of Parliamentary session in Tehran, Iran on October 22, 2020. Iranian Members of the Parliament also follow the presidential elections of U.S. [Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu Agency] May 25, 2021 at 10:45 pm
Seven candidates will be vying for Iran s presidency in the elections scheduled on June 18, including five conservatives and two reformists,
Anadolu Agency reports.
Many top reformist candidates, including a key ally of President Hassan Rouhani, were disqualified by Iran s top election supervisory body Guardian Council. The approved names by announced by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday.
The disqualification of key reformists candidates has reportedly drawn the ire of the incumbent president, who is believed to have written a letter to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei protesting against the decision.