Once again, the council has barred former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a populist known for the crackdown after his disputed 2009 re-election, from running. He is also remembered for challenging Khamenei and the crackdown on the 2009 Green Movement.
The approval of candidates for the election marks the beginning of a two-week campaign to replace Raisi, a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists overseen by Khamenei, hopes to smooth the election process amid tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and the Israel-Hamas war.
