TEHRAN: Iran's Interior Ministry has registered almost 600 candidates for the presidential election on June 18. Out of a total of 592 candidates, 40 are women and 552 are men, the ministry announced on Sunday.
All candidates must now be examined and confirmed by the powerful Guardian Council. The names of the presidential candidates are then to be published by the end of the month.
The list of the leading candidates includes almost 30 names, including Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi, and former parliament speaker and nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
Ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the reformer and former women's representative in the presidential office Sahra Shodzhaei, and Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, the son of a former president, have also thrown their hats into the ring.
President Hassan Rowhani is not allowed to run again after two terms in office.
Meanwhile, Iranian newspapers voiced concern on Sunday about the potential turnout for next month's presidential poll, a day after candidate registration ended with several heavyweights joining the race.
According to the election committee, close to 600 hopefuls including 40 women have registered for the June 18 vote to elect a successor to President Hassan Rouhani, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term.
But only a handful will be allowed to run after vetting by the Guardian Council, a conservative-dominated, unelected body in charge of overseeing elections.
According to the Shargh daily, "various polls" show that "more than half" of eligible voters are expected to stay away.
The election is already widely viewed as a likely showdown between Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker, and judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi.
A record 57 per cent of Iranian voters stayed away from the February 2020 legislative elections.
This was attributed to the disqualification of thousands of candidates, as well as voter disappointment with the economy and Rouhani's performance.
Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was expected to rejuvenate Iran's economy by lifting punishing sanctions.
But those hopes were dashed three years later as the US pulled out and unilaterally reimposed sanctions, leaving much of Rouhani's second term tainted by a battered economy and unfulfilled promises.
The government-run Iran daily called for authorities to "guarantee the presence of candidates from (different) political orientations" to promote a "formidable turnout".
It warned that Guardian Council disqualifications run a risk of fuelling public "frustration" when the Islamic republic needs a high "level of turnout". - AFP/dpa
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