Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the country's June 28 election, organized after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
Iranian media reports say Ahmadinejad, who was president of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2005 to 2013, was registered along with dozens of others at the Interior Ministry on Sunday, a day before the sign-up period ends.
Tasnim news agency reports that “the controversial figure’s presence in the Interior Ministry attracted a large number of photographers and journalists.”
The registration process for the 14th round of Iran’s presidential election got underway at the Interior Ministry headquarters in Tehran on May 30 and ended on June 3.
According to Tasnim news agency, around 80 individuals have put in requests for candidacy during the past four days, while less than 20, including a woman, have met the eligibility criteria to register.
Al Jazeera says the dozens who signed up to run for president also include senior security official and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former three-time parliament speaker Ali Larijani, Tehran’s Mayor Alireza Zakani, and former central bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that however Ahmadinejad could be barred from the race: the country's cleric-led Guardian Council will vet candidates, and publish the list of qualified ones on June 11.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, was first elected as Iran's president in 2005 and stepped down because of term limits in 2013.
According to Reuters, he was barred from standing in the 2017 election by the Guardian Council, a year after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned him that entering was “not in his interest and that of the country”.
A rift developed between the two after Ahmadinejad explicitly advocated checks on Khamenei's ultimate authority.
In 2018, in rare criticism directed at Khamenei, Ahmadinejad wrote to him calling for “free” elections.
