Iran prepares to vote for replacement after Raisi's funeral

President Ebrahim Raisi's recent passing in a helicopter crash has led to Iran scheduling an election next month to select a new leader. The conservative faction aims to appoint a candidate devoted to their supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Many individuals from various political affiliations are now eligible to participate in the upcoming election before the early voting on June 28.

Their most crucial concern is the number of candidates who will successfully pass the vetting process in the Islamic country.

Raisi, an extreme conservative who still had more than a year left on his first term, died on May 19 when his chopper crashed into a foggy hillside, killing him, his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and six other people.

They were buried after funerals that lasted several days and drew vast crowds of people.

The vote in June will happen at a volatile time. The Gaza war is still going on between Israel, Iran's main enemy, and Hamas, a Palestinian group backed by Iran. There are also still international issues over Iran's nuclear project.

Iran is also having a hard time with its economy. The situation is made worse by the fact that tough international sanctions were put back in place after the US pulled out of a historic nuclear deal in 2015 and after large-scale protests against the government.

Khamenei has the final say on all things of state and has asked Mohammad Mokhber, 68, Raisi's vice president, to take over as acting president for a few weeks and set up the election in June.

According to the news, Mokhber, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the house speaker, and several other well-known past officials want to run for Iran's second-highest office.

Saeed Jalili, an ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator, was among the first candidates to announce his candidacy.

Moderates like Ali Larijani, who was parliament speaker, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, who used to be foreign minister, are also running.

Former populist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he is checking the conditions to decide whether to register and has kept people guessing.

Vetting process

Nationwide protests erupted in Iran in late 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, while in custody. Amini was arrested in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women, which ignited public outrage.

A tragic incident unfolded as a large number of individuals, including numerous security personnel, lost their lives while a significant number of individuals were taken into custody.

In an interview with the reformist newspaper Hammihan, political expert Abbas Abdi highlighted the potential for change in Iran's "protesting community."

According to Abdi, if given the opportunity, this community will express its discontent, engagement, and commitment by actively participating in the upcoming election.

According to him, the reformists have a strong chance of winning by a large margin, but only if they are allowed to participate. It has become a significant concern following the disqualification of numerous candidates before the recent elections.

According to Abdi, allowing a wide range of candidates to run in the upcoming election could instill hope in the people and encourage greater participation.

In Iran's election process, candidates will have a designated period to register officially, which will commence on May 30.

The composition of the final list will be determined by the validation process carried out by the Guardian Council, which is currently dominated by conservatives. This process will take place after the registration deadline on June 3.

The 12-member body overseeing elections had previously disqualified numerous candidates, including Ahmadinejad and Larijani.

There has been a significant decline in voter turnout in the recent parliamentary and presidential elections despite the authorities' attempts to boost participation.

The Guardian Council disqualified many candidates before the parliamentary elections in Iran on March 1, which has had the unintended consequence of consolidating power for conservative and ultraconservative politicians despite the presence of reformists and moderates among the candidates. The March legislative vote recorded the lowest turnout in over four decades.

Low voter turnout

Numerous moderate and reformist politicians were excluded from the 2021 election that brought Raisi to office, and the turnout was the lowest for any presidential election in Iranian history.

Former officials and activists attacked Raisi mercilessly throughout his tenure, particularly for the way he managed an already precarious economy.

Raisi's administration struggled under historic currency devaluation, raging inflation, and severe unemployment while failing to agree with Washington to resurrect the nuclear deal and ease sanctions.

He was also criticized for the way the administration handled Amini's death-related public demonstrations.

More recently, as a result of the Gaza War spillover, tensions with Israel increased dramatically and peaked in mid-April when Iran launched its first-ever direct strike on Israel.

Iranian troops and affiliated organizations fired hundreds of drones and missiles; Israel and its allies intercepted the majority of them.

Despite all the unrest, Iran's authorities have pleaded for a peaceful election process.

The new parliament's first session began on Monday with a statement from Khamenei urging members to avoid "useless media contests and harmful political controversies.