Presidential elections were held in Iran on 18 June 2021, the thirteenth since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Ebrahim Raisi, the then Chief Justice of Iran, was declared the winner in a highly controversial election. The election began with the mass disqualification of popular candidates by the Guardian Council, and broke records of the lowest turnout in Iranian electoral history (around 49%), as well as had the highest share of protest blank, invalid and lost votes (around 13%) despite a declaration by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, considering protest voting religiously forbidden (haraam) as it would "weaken the regime." Reporters Without Borders reported 42 cases of journalists being summoned or threatened for writing about candidates and the chief of the police threatening people who discouraged others to vote.
The Guardian Council announced the approval of seven candidates after the wide disqualification of prominent candidates, including Ali Larijani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the former president of Iran), and Eshaq Jahangiri (the Incumbent first Vice President), among others, which provoked many activists and candidates to call for boycotting the election, including Ahmadinejad, who said that he would neither participate nor recognize the election. Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent Iranian president, could not run for re-election under the constitution of Iran as he had already served his maximum two consecutive terms.
The elections were considered a "show election" to elect the handpicked candidate of the Iranian Supreme Leader by human rights groups, citing the disqualification of opposition figures. The elections were the first in Iranian history in which the reported number of invalid ballots, 3.84 million, outnumbered every non-winning candidate; the second-placed Mohsen Rezaee received 3.44 million votes. The elections were widely described as "neither free nor fair", a "sham", and a "selection" by different international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights in Iran, and others called for an investigation into Raisi's role as an overseer in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.
Electoral system
The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term by universal adult suffrage with a minimum voting age of 18. The presidential term is renewable once in a consecutive manner. It is the country's highest directly elected official, the chief of the executive branch, and the second most important position after the Supreme Leader. Under Iran's political system, the Supreme Leader holds much more power than the president.
According to Islamic Republic of Iran's constitution, any Iranian citizen who believes in Shia Islam, is loyal to the Constitution; the ideology of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist and the Islamic Republic can participate in an election as a presidential candidate. An institution called the Election Monitoring Agency (EMA), managed by the Guardian Council vets registered candidates and selects a handful to run in the election.
The Guardian Council does not publicly announce the reason for rejections of particular candidates, although those reasons are privately explained to each candidate. Women are not constitutionally restricted from running; however, all women who registered as candidates have been excluded from standing for election by the Guardian Council. "We have not rejected any woman due to being a woman", the spokesman of the Guardian Council said. He clarified that there is no obstacle for women's registration in the elections.
Those approved by the Guardian Council are put to a public vote on the weekend. The winner is the candidate who receives a majority (50% plus one) of votes. If no candidate receives enough votes, another election is held between the two candidates with the most votes the following Friday. Iranians who voted during the election receive a stamp that indicate so on their birth certificates.
According to the constitution, once the result is known, the Supreme Leader must sign the decree of the elected president, and if he refuses to sign, the elected president will not assume the presidency. So far, Supreme Leaders have always signed the decree of the elected president. After that, the elected president must recite and sign an oath in a session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in the presence of the members of the Guardian Council and the head of the Supreme Court. In the Oath, the elected president must swear that he will guard the official religion (Islam), protect the Constitution and the Islamic Republic, and that he will dedicate himself to the service of the nation, its people, and its religion (among other things).
Offline electronic voting system
Having a national identification number is required for voting. The identification number system was developed and programmed by the Telecommunication Company of Iran. 33,000 virtual ballot boxes are used.
Simultaneous elections
The election was held concurrently with city and village council elections. In some electoral districts and provinces midterm elections of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts were also held.
Cost of the election
1170 billion toman (approximately US$277.4 million) was allocated in the national budget, of which 160 billion was allocated to the Guardian Council for oversight and supervision, and the rest (1010 billion) was for the Ministry of Interior, which actually runs the election.
Polling places abroad
234 polling places were set up in 133 countries so that Iranians abroad could vote. 3.5 million members of the Iranian diaspora were eligible to vote in the election. The Canadian government did not allow Iran to operate polling places in Canada.
Candidates
The Guardian Council disqualified over 600 applicants, including all the women who had registered, ultimately approving seven candidates, three of whom withdrew days before the election.
Approved
The Interior Ministry released the official list of candidates qualified by the Guardian Council on 25 May 2021. The following seven candidates were approved by the council.
- Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh, then-current member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (2008–2021)
- Abdolnaser Hemmati, former governor of the Central Bank (2018–2021)
- Ebrahim Raisi, then-current Chief Justice of Iran (2019–2021)
- Mohsen Rezaee, former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (1981–1997)
- Saeed Jalili, former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2007–2013) (withdrew)
- Alireza Zakani, then-current president of the Majlis Research Center (2020–2021) (withdrew)
- Mohsen Mehralizadeh, former Governor of Isfahan (2017–2018) (withdrew)
Withdrew
Several candidates withdrew from the election, with three withdrawing after they had been approved by the Guardian Council. All the candidates who withdrew endorsed a candidate.
During election
- Saeed Jalili, former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2007–2013) (endorsed Raisi)
- Mohsen Mehralizadeh, former Governor of Isfahan (2017–2018) (endorsed Hemmati)
- Alireza Zakani, then-current president of the Majlis Research Center (2020–2021) (endorsed Raisi)
Before election
- Mohammad Abbasi, former Minister of Sport and Youth (2011–2013) (endorsed Raisi)
- Alireza Afshar, former deputy Minister of Interior (2007–2008) (endorsed Raisi)
- Hossein Dehghan, former Minister of Defense (2013–2017) (endorsed Raisi)
- Rostam Ghasemi, former Minister of Petroleum (2011–2013) (endorsed Raisi)
- Ghodrat-Ali Heshmatian, former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (1996–2000) (endorsed Raisi)
- Mohammad-Hassan Nami, former Minister of Communications and Information Technology (2013) (endorsed Raisi)
- Masoud Zaribafan, former head of Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs (2009–2013) (endorsed Raisi)
Rejected
More than 600 applicants were rejected, notable rejects including:
- Fereydoon Abbasi, former head of the Atomic Energy Organization (2011–2013)
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former President (2005–2013)
- Abbas Akhoundi, former Minister of Roads and Urban Development (2013–2018)
- Mohammad-Javad Haghshenas, then-current member of the City Council of Tehran (2017–2021)
- Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, then-current chairman of the City Council of Tehran (2017–2021)
- Eshaq Jahangiri, then-current First Vice President (2013–2021)
- Mostafa Kavakebian, former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (2008–2012, 2016–2020)
- Ali Larijani, former chairman of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (2008–2020)
- Ramin Mehmanparast, former Ambassador of Iran to Poland (2014–2018)
- Saeed Mohammad, former chairman of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters (2018–2021)
- Ali Motahari, former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (2008–2020)
- Masoud Pezeshkian, current member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (since 2008)
- Mahmoud Sadeghi, former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (2016–2020)
- Mohammad Shariatmadari, then-current Minister of Labour (2018–2021)
- Mostafa Tajzadeh, former acting Minister of Interior (1998)
- Ezzatollah Zarghami, former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (2004–2014)
Announced but not registered
- Mohammad-Ali Afshani, former Mayor of Tehran (2018)
- Mohammad Ardakani, former Minister of Cooperatives (2005–2006)
- Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (1996–2000)
- Sadegh Kharazi, former Ambassador of Iran to France (2002–2006)
- Ali Akbar Salehi, then-current head of the Atomic Energy Organization (2013–2021)
Election issues
COVID-19
The government had administered 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, which is about 2.7% of the country's population (82.91 million). Incumbent President Rouhani predicted that the virus breakout could affect voter turnout. The government has since limited the maximum number of people allowed to gather at polling places.
The Election Office vaccinated staff by obtaining vaccines meant for the elderly. Election staff are tested for COVID-19 with PCR tests.
Raisi held a rally despite the pandemic according to the Associated Press. The hospitals were readied for a 5th wave of the pandemic.
Fatwa
The Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Friday Prayers Imam of Isfahan had declared that blank votes are considered haram, and not voting would be considered a major sin.
TV debates
The moderator asked every candidate different random questions, regarding economics, social and political, and people's issues. Additionally, 3 TV chats were televised, hosting 7 candidates.
The First Debate
Two moderate candidates (Hemmati and Mehralizade) faced five hardliner candidates.
Hemmati opened his speech by criticizing the fact that women and minorities were refused the right to run in the election, described the four hardliners besides Raisi as "covering" candidates, indicating that they had only participated to be defenders of Raisi in the debate and asked them to swear that they would not drop out of the election in favour of Raisi. He accused Reza'i of sabotaging the incumbent moderate government of Iran's effort to join the anti-money-laundering organization FATF and asked him whether it would be sane to solve the economic problems of Iran by taking American hostages (as Reza'i had indicated in a previous controversial interview). He asked Ra'isi, the chief justice of Iran and almost certain next president of Iran, to be given a promise (or a "safe conduct") not to be prosecuted after the conclusion of the elections.
Mehralizade, another moderate candidate, criticized Ra'isi for not having pursued an academic education besides having completed the six grades of school, and said that despite the respect he has for Ra'isi's Islamic Seminary Diploma, he does not believe that that is enough education for a person who wants to handle a country, and said that Ra'isi suffers from a "restless-position syndrome" (a humorous allusion to the "restless-hand syndrome" which is the Persian term for the Alien Hand Syndrome) for pursuing one high position after another. In response to this claim, Raisi asked Mehralizade "why are you jealous of my popularity among the people?".
Reza'i and Zakani, both hardliner candidates, accused Hemmati, the then Governor of the Iranian Central Bank, of having issued fiat money, and Zakani, in response to Hemmati's criticism of widespread rejection of candidates not aligned enough with the want of the Guardian Council, said "If those candidates had been approved, you would not be here".
Opinion polls
Hypothetical polls
Hypothetical polls were done before the Guardian Council had announced who is approved to run. Therefore, these polls include several candidates (like Ahmadinejad) who were disqualified and are therefore ineligible to run.
Polls
These polls include all seven candidates who were approved by the Guardian Council. Note that Jalili, Mehralizadeh, and Zakani all withdrew after this poll was conducted.
ISPA polls
The ISPA (Iranian Students Polling Agency), Considered to be one of the most reliable pollsters in Iran, having correctly predicted the results of the 2017 election, projected that Ebrahim Raisi was heavily favored to win the election.
Results
The declared results showed a total of 28,750,736 people cast votes (48.48% of the eligible population), including 18 million votes for the victor of the election, Ebrahim Raisi. Mohsen Rezai was the candidate receiving the most votes as a non-winner with 13.81% of the valid votes, although his votes were lower than the number of blank, invalid, or lost votes.