Iran’s hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the June 28 election, which was organised following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, according to Iran’s state television on Sunday.
However, he may be barred from participating: the cleric-led Guardian Council will vet the candidates and release the list of those qualified on June 11.
Ahmadinejad, once a member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, was first elected president in 2005 and served until 2013, when he stepped down due to term limits.
The Guardian Council barred him from running in the 2017 election, a year after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advised him that entering the race was “not in his interest and that of the country.”
A rift developed between them after Ahmadinejad openly called for checks on Khamenei’s ultimate authority. In 2018, in a rare act of defiance, Ahmadinejad wrote to Khamenei, demanding “free” elections.
Khamenei had initially supported Ahmadinejad after his controversial 2009 re-election, which sparked protests resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests. The unrest was quelled by security forces led by the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).