Iran is an Islamic republic that has
different layers of power.
It means the president isn't fully in
charge.
The ultimate authority in Iran is the
supreme leader and since 1989 that's
been Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He oversees foreign policy and controls
powerful institutions
like the judiciary, state media and
special forces known as the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps. The supreme
leader is appointed by a group called
the Assembly of Experts — as in
experts in Islamic law. It's got 88
members who are elected every eight
years.
Then there's the elected president who
leads the government.
He sets Iran's economic direction and
works with the supreme leader on
domestic
and foreign policy. There's also an
elected parliament that drafts laws.
At the end of the day, though, the supreme
leader can effectively
overrule all big decisions and when it
comes to elections
there's another important institution
involved — the Guardian Council.
That means Iranian voters
can only choose from a preapproved list
of candidates
and this year, out of almost 600 people
who applied to run for president,
only seven made the cut.
Now, in the last few presidential
elections Iranians have had a clear
choice between a conservative
and a reformist but this year it's
different.
The Guardian Council hasn't approved any
reformist candidates that look like they
have a realistic chance of winning.
So, who are the seven candidates? Well,
among them there's
Saeed Jalili. He's a senior figure in
the hardline conservative camp
and was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator
under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
There's the former head of Iran's
central bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati.
He's seen as a moderate candidate and so
is Mohsen Mehralizadeh
who's standing as an independent. But the
man most people are talking about is
Ebrahim Raisi.
He's widely seen as the frontrunner.
So who is Ebrahim Raisi? He's a hardline
Islamic cleric who rose through the
ranks as a prosecutor and judge.
He ran in the last election and lost to
Rouhani but he got 38% of the
vote,
which helped to put him on the political
map.
For the last two years he's been head of
the judiciary and is now being talked
about
as a potential successor to the supreme
leader. In terms of policy
Raisi says he wants to develop the
domestic economy and improve relations
with countries like China and Russia.
It's to help reduce the impact of
Western sanctions. He's also styled
himself
as a man of the people.
But he's also got some serious
allegations hanging over him
linked to the mass execution of
political prisoners in 1988.
Raisi is accused of being a member of
what was called a death commission in
Tehran
while he was deputy prosecutor general.
Now there's
one issue that's really dominating this
election
and that's the economy. Times are tough
for people in Iran
especially since 2018. That's when the
US reimposed sanctions after President
Trump pulled the Americans
out of an international deal to monitor
Iran's nuclear programme.
In April of this year inflation hit 50
percent.
People are struggling to buy even the
basics, unemployment is also high and
COVID-19 has made things tougher.
Now, a big factor for the economy is
going to be whether US sanctions are
lifted
and that depends on whether they can
restore the nuclear deal
with President Joe Biden in the White
House. The Americans and Iranians are
back at the negotiating table
but it's hard to say what might happen
if they don't reach a deal before
President Rouhani leaves office in
August.
OK, but right now the big question in
Iran is
just how many people are going to turn
up to vote. Last year's parliamentary
election had the lowest turnout since
the Islamic revolution in 1979
and a recent poll found that only around
38% of respondents
said they'll definitely vote in the
presidential election.
For Iran's leaders
that's not a good look and the supreme
leader has urged people to come out and
vote.
Turnout says a lot about how much people
trust the system
but right now it looks like a lot of
Iranians plan on staying at home.
We'll have more coverage before and
after the Iranian elections on our
website aljazeera.com
and you can find more episodes of this
show on YouTube and social media —
just search for Start Here Al Jazeera.
See you next week.