Presidential election in Iran 2021

The presidential election in Iran in 2021 was held on 18 June. Was elected with Ebrahim Raissi a successor to President Hassan Rohani , who was not allowed to run again after two terms. According to official figures, voter turnout was 48.8%, the lowest it has ever been in a presidential election in Iran ( more than 70% had participated in the previous 2017 election ). Iranian opposition members and Western observers attributed this to the restricted selection of candidates, which led to widespread election boycott and election fatigue. The current choice is literally on Raissi, the preferred candidate of the Guardian Counciland the spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .

Candidates

592 people, 40 of whom were women, initially applied for the election. On May 25, it was announced that the Guardian Council had approved seven mostly ultra-conservative candidacies:

• Said Jalili , Chairman of the Security Council of Iran
• Amirhossein Ghasisadeh-Hashemi , member of the Front for Stability of the Islamic Revolution party
• Abdolnaser Hemmati , President of the Central Bank and member of the Kargozaran Party
• Mohsen Mehralisadeh , former Governor of Isfahan Province and Vice President of Iran
• Ebrahim Raissi , head of justice and member of the party association of the fighting clergy
• Mohsen Rezai , member of the Resistance Front Party of Islamic Iran
• Aliresa Sakani

Among the rejected candidates were ex-parliamentary president Ali Larijani , vice-president Eshagh Dschahangiri and the former president Mahmud Ahmadineschād . As a favorite, Raissi is considered a representative of the ultra-conservative camp. It was expected in advance that some of the admitted would withdraw in Raissi's favor before the election. A few days before the election, the approved Mehralisadeh and Sakani and then Jalili announced their waiver. The former governor of Isfahan province, Mehralisadeh, who is considered moderate, was the candidate with the worst prospects with around one percent approval according to data from the Iranian polling institute Ispa. Aliresa Sakani and Said Jalili were candidates from the conservative camp. There were four candidates to choose from, including three conservatives and one moderate (Abdolnaser Hemmati).

• Candidates initially admitted and later resigned
• 

  Said Jalili
• 

  Mohsen Mehralisadeh
• 

  Aliresa Sakani

• The four remaining candidates
• 

  Amirhossein Ghasisadeh-Hashemi
• 

  Abdolnaser Hemmati
• 

  Ebrahim Raissi
• 

  Mohsen Rezai

Result

Hassan Rohani announced before the official result was announced that Ebrahim Raissi had been elected as the new head of state in the first ballot. Thereupon the remaining three opponents admitted their defeat.

According to official information, 28,933,004 (48.8%) of the 59,310,307 eligible voters took part in the election. A high proportion of invalid votes was noticeable, which could be interpreted as an indirect voter protest. The four candidates accounted for:

Preliminary result of the election

candidate	voices	percent
Ebrahim Raissi	17,926,345	72.38%
Mohsen Rezai	3,412,712	13.78%
Abdolnaser Hemmati	2,427,201	9.80%
Amirhossein Ghasisadeh-Hashemi	999.718	4.04%
Valid votes	24,765,976	-
Invalid votes	3,726,870	12.89%

1. ↑ The official results announced so far do not add up to 28,933,004 voters, but result in 28,492,846 voters.

See also

• Political system of Iran

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Iran: Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi becomes new president - extremely low voter turnout. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved June 19, 2021 . 
2. ↑ Iran election: Hardliner Raisi will become president. BBC News, June 19, 2021, accessed June 19, 2021 . 
3. ↑ Shabnam von Hein: Chamenei's favorite Raeissi in the Iranian election campaign. Deutsche Welle, June 9, 2021, accessed June 19, 2021 . 
4. ↑ Almost 600 candidates run for presidential election. Der Spiegel , May 16, 2021, accessed on June 3, 2021.
5. ↑ Iran removes moderate and conservative candidates from list for presidential election. Der Standard , May 25, 2021, accessed June 3, 2021.
6. ↑ Christiane Hoffmann: Election in Iran: How the hardliners want to secure all power. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved June 17, 2021 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Monika Bollinger: A hardliner on the way to power. Der Spiegel, May 31, 2021, accessed on June 3, 2021.
8. ↑ The number of presidential candidates is falling. Deutschlandfunk , June 16, 2021, accessed on the same day.
9. ^ Jalili withdraws presidential bid in favor of Raeisi. More News Agency , June 16, 2021, accessed the following day. (English)
10. ↑ Two candidates in the presidential election in Iran throw down. Deutsche Welle, June 16, 2021, accessed June 19, 2021 . 
11. ↑ tagesschau.de: Vote in Iran: Hardliner Raisi wins election. Retrieved June 19, 2021 . 
12. ↑ Seyed Ibrahim Raeisi is the winner of the presidential election. Islamic Republic News Agency , June 19, 2021, accessed June 19, 2021 .