Iran to Hold Presidential Elections June 28 After Raisi’s Death

Arsalan Shahla and Dana Khraiche
·1 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Iran will hold presidential elections on June 28, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash over the weekend.

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Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will take on the role of president in the meantime, as per the constitution of the Islamic Republic.

Raisi and eight others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, were killed in north-western Iran after their helicopter went down in a mountainous area. The government blamed bad weather and dense fog.

Candidates can register from May 30 and individuals will be vetted by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body of clerics and jurists that administers elections.

It’s unclear if Mokhber himself will run.

Many Iran analysts have said it’s likely the clerical establishment and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will want a president similar to Raisi, an ultraconservative cleric deeply distrusting of the US and Israel. In recent elections, the Guardian Council’s made it difficult for reformists to stand.

Raisi was a polarizing figure in Iran. Many associate him with the mass arrests and executions that followed violent protests across the country in 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.

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