Six candidates, including the speaker of parliament, have been approved to run in this month’s Iranian elections to succeed President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month. The vote comes at a time when the country faces acute domestic and international challenges, state media said on Sunday.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and five other men were approved by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body that vets candidates, for the June 28 vote, state news agency IRNA said, citing spokesman Mohsen Eslami. in front of the country’s election headquarters.
Qalibaf, a retired pilot and former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, has twice unsuccessfully run for the country’s presidency and is a former mayor of the capital Tehran. He became Speaker of Parliament in 2020 after parliamentary elections.
