This year’s registration attracted the highest ever number of applicants seeking the highest executive post in the counrty, the bulk of whom were ordinary people without any political background.
Apart from the incumbent president, Hassan Rouhani, dozens of other politicians and parliamentarians applied for candidacy for the post of president, including Hojatoleslam Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, the chief custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, Mayor of Tehran Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri.
As of tomorrow, the Guardian Council will have five days for vetting process to assess the qualification of the individuals.
The final list of eligible candidates will be released afterwards, and they will have 20 days for electoral campaigns, before the election day on May 19.
The number of eligible voters in the upcoming vote is estimated to be around 1.5 million higher than the 50.5 million in the previous election four years ago.