Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has officially submitted his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections in Iran, scheduled for 28 June. Local media broadcast footage of Ahmadinejad registering his candidacy at the Interior Ministry’s election headquarters.
However, Ahmadinejad may face disqualification from the race as the Guardian Council is set to review the candidates and will publish the list of eligible competitors on 11 June.
Ahmadinejad, a former member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, first won the presidency in 2005, serving until 2013. In the 2017 elections, the Guardian Council barred him from running, a year after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advised him that entering the race was “not in his interest or the country’s.”
A rift developed between the two officials after Ahmadinejad openly called for checks on the Supreme Leader’s absolute power.
In 2018, in a rare direct criticism of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad wrote to him calling for “free” elections.
Khamenei had initially supported Ahmadinejad after his controversial re-election in 2009, which led to protests resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests.
The election has been triggered by the sudden death in a helicopter crash of President Embrahim Raisi last month.
Read: Former Iran parliament speaker registers for presidential vote after Raisi death