SIX candidates, dominated by hardliners loyal to the Supreme Leader, will compete to be the next president of Iran on the 28th of June.
Iran’s Guardian Council, a powerful 12-member body assigned with overseeing elections and legislation, approved only six individuals out of 80 initial candidates.
Of the six candidates, five of them were considered hardliners and loyal to the regime’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei urged Iranians to participate in the snap elections on Friday after the parliamentary elections in March witnessed the lowest voter turnout not seen since the foundation of Iran in 1979.
Lawmaker and former parliament deputy speaker Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocates dialogue with Western powers, was the only pro-reform politician approved on the list of final candidates. He is expected to have a low chance of winning the race.
The candidate who will win the presidential race on the 28th of June will replace late President Ebrahim Raisi who died from a tragic helicopter crash last month.
The upcoming election was overshadowed by sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this week which covered nearly 50 individuals and companies.
