Early presidential elections in Iran were held on 28 June and 5 July 2024 following the death of incumbent president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on 19 May.
Four candidates contested the first round of the election, in which Masoud Pezeshkian won 44%, Saeed Jalili won 40%, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf won 14% and Mostafa Pourmohammadi won less than 1% of the vote. Pezeshkian was the only reformist candidate on the ballot. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a run off vote was held on 5 July between Jalili and Pezeshkian, which the latter won with 53.7% of the vote. On 6 July 2024, the Ministry of Interior declared Pezeshkian the winner of the election, with Jalili conceding defeat shortly thereafter.
With a 39.93% turnout, the first round of the election saw the lowest participation for a presidential election in the Islamic Republic's history. The turnout improved in the second round to 49.68%. Pezeshkian was seated as president after the ballot certification process was completed. His inauguration was held on 28 July.
Background
On 19 May 2024, after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated a hydroelectric complex at the Giz Galasi Reservoir near the Iran-Azerbaijan border, together with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Raisi departed from the site in a helicopter. The helicopter carrying Raisi and seven other passengers and crew crashed at approximately 13:30 IRST (UTC+03:30) near the village of Uzi in Varzaqan County in East Azerbaijan province. Later that day, the wreckage of the helicopter was located, with everyone on board found dead. This led to First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber becoming the acting president according to Article 131 of the Constitution.
Electoral system
The president of Iran is usually elected every four years by a "direct vote of the people", as set out by Article 114 of the Iranian Constitution. The presidential election was scheduled to take place on or before 18 June 2025, but was held earlier due to the death of the president. Under Iran's political system, the President is the country's highest directly elected official, the chief of the executive branch, and the second most important position after that of the Supreme Leader. The minimum voting age is 18.
According to the 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 the election as a presidential candidate. 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, but all who have registered as candidates have been disqualified by the Guardian Council. The council has officially denied rejecting a woman's candidacy because of her gender.
Candidates approved by the Guardian Council are put to a public vote. The winner is the candidate who receives a majority (50% plus one) of votes. If no candidate receives enough votes, a run-off election is held between the two candidates with the most votes the following Friday. Iranians who vote during the election receive a stamp that indicates 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. As of 2024, 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.
For this election, more than 61 million citizens were eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 and 30 years old. Voters were required to present identity booklets, passports or smart Iranian identity cards The Ministry of Intelligence warned that presidential nominees were under constant monitoring.
Overseas voting
Voting for overseas Iranians was held in 344 locations worldwide. In Australia, polling was canceled in Brisbane and Sydney due to protests by the Iranian diaspora. Opponents of the Iranian government, who wanted a boycott of the election, criticized the Biden administration for allowing the installation of voting stations in the United States. Saudi Arabia and Canada refused to grant Iran permission to install overseas ballot boxes, though the decision was later reversed in Saudi Arabia.
Voting stations for Canadian voters were instead placed on the Canada–United States border.
Dates
Following the announcement of Raisi's death on 20 May, authorities announced that voting would be held on 28 June. Registration of candidates began on 30 May and ran until 3 June, while campaigning lasted from 12 June until 27 June.
Candidates
The registration to run for the presidency started on 30 May and ended on 3 June. A total of 80 people, including four women, filed their candidacies for president. Most candidates were considered as conservatives or ultra conservatives. The final list of candidates was released by the Guardian Council on 9 June. Per Article 99 of the Constitution, those rejected by the council are not allowed to protest the rejection.
Rejected
A total of 74 aspirants had their candidacies rejected by the Guardian Council. These included all four women who applied to run in the election. The applications of at least 30 candidacies were rejected on 30 May for failure to meet the "basic conditions for qualification". Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the most notable to be disqualified by the Guardian Council, having been disqualified previously in 2021.
Approved
Six candidates were allowed by the Guardian Council to run for president, namely Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Saeed Jalili, Masoud Pezeshkian, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Alireza Zakani. On 26 June, Hashemi withdrew his candidacy and called on other candidates to follow "so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened". He was followed on 27 June by Zakani, who did so citing the need to "block the formation of a third administration" of former President Hassan Rouhani. Both candidates, as well as Ghalibaf, subsequently endorsed Jalili in the second round.
In a speech on 3 June, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told candidates not to attack each other and expressed his preference for a "revolutionary president".
The authorities gave 20GB of free internet data for use on domestic messengers and Telewebion for 30 days to mobile phones to promote information regarding the election. US-funded Radio Farda anticipated the total cost of the election to be more than US$357 million.
Saeed Jalili
Saeed Jalili of the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability ran for president for the fourth time. He is the Supreme Leader's personal representative to the Supreme National Security Council and was formerly its Secretary, during which he was involved in the Iran nuclear negotiations. Jalili was involved in governmental activities for the decade leading into the election. He was backed by the Islamic Society of Students. Jalili opposed negotiations with the West and the ratification of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In addition, Jalili supported the completion of an additional one million housing units. Jalili opposed importing cars from overseas while Ghalibaf supported the import of cars. Jalili promised three days of free vacation to government tourist residences for every citizen per year.
Masoud Pezeshkian
Of the six candidates confirmed by the Guardian Council, Masoud Pezeshkian was regarded to be the only one representing moderates and reformists. He was backed by Nedaye Iranian, the National Trust Party, Moderation and Development Party, Coalition of Reformist Women's Parties, as well as former President Mohammad Khatami, former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the Assembly of the Forces of Imam's Line. Pezeshkian's campaign slogan is "Living without Shamefulness". He campaigned against the Guidance patrol's 2024 Nour program and criticized Iranian laws on the wearing of the hijab.
In his campaign speech, Pezeshkian said that he could not do anything for political prisoners as the power to release them does not belong to the president. He told students not to insult Khamenei and that he had "assimilated into the Supreme leader". His campaign staff used the song Baraye written by imprisoned singer Shervin Hajipour. Pezeshkian also supported the banning of Afghan immigrants.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Ghalibaf promised to reduce the number of Afghan immigrants and build a wall along Iran's borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. He expressed his support for strengthening the Axis of Resistance. Ghalibaf promised better pay to health workers in order to stop emigration. He said that he is open to closer relations with the United States and negotiating a new nuclear deal to alleviate Iran of its economic woes.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi
Mostafa Pourmohammadi pledged an end to internet censorship and supports nuclear negotiations but from a position of power. He criticized Iranian military support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to what he called a lack of reciprocal benefits from Russia.
Alireza Zakani
Alireza Zakani pledged to give away 120 tons of free meat every day. He promised free health care for women and seniors and cash payments to the poor.
Debates
First round
IRIB exclusively held and broadcast the presidential debates. The questions to be asked in the debates were shared with all candidates beforehand. The IRIB and the Election Office warned candidates against ruining the country's public image. Documentaries will be also produced by IRIB for nominees. The government also banned displaying images of candidates with Ali Khamenei and his predecessor as Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.
The candidates were asked during the first debate on issues such as inflation, the government's budget deficit, housing and corruption. All candidates pledged to have sanctions against Iran lifted, strengthen the rial and introduce reforms. In the debate, Ghalibaf made several false claims on the economy, regarding energy waste in the country, national GDP and productivity rate. Journalist Vahid Ashtari alleged that Ghalibaf falsely claimed about never having sued any journalist. Ashtari was arrested on 20 June after posting luggage records of Ghalibaf's daughter, who travelled to Turkey. Zakani falsely said that there were no hijab police deployed in the Tehran Metro and that he had not opposed imported COVID-19 vaccines. Pourmohammedi claimed that IRIB TV2's news program 20:30 censored and manipulated a video he sent them.
During the 20 June debates, while discussing culture Pezeshkian's advisor Mohammed Fazeli threw his microphone and left the debate after getting into an argument with one of the hosts. Economic issues were again discussed during the debate, as well as fuel subsidies and education. In the third debate Hashemi promised to make an area in beaches for women to ride jet skis and do water sports, while Pourmohammedi promised to decriminalize not wearing a hijab and stop violent responses by police and Basij. Jalili criticized media attention to Mahsa Amini's death rather than the deaths of thousands of women in Gaza. Ghalibaf claimed Iran's National Information Network has progressed 75%, which Factnameh said was "unverifiable".
In the fourth debate Pourmohammadi called Jalili a traitor for sabotaging the FATF ratification and Ahmadinejad's Crescent petroleum deal, which Jalili denied and said the Crescent agreement was flawed. Hashemi criticized Hassan Rouhani and the reformists for warmongering in Afghanistan and praised Ebrahim Raisi for making peace and not letting Israel advance. Pourmohammadi called the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners a "project of difficult times of the government" and that "only People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran members who were fighting against the people were executed."
In the fifth debate Hashemi promised to eliminate twelve months conscription for males. Hashemi denied that Internet censorship in Iran exists, while Pezeshkian defended the 2019 Internet blackout in Iran. Pourmohammadi pledged to bring transparency to the Tehran Stock Exchange. Ghalibaf blamed Debsh government corruption on inequity. During a debate on women, a representative of Jalili blamed women for being assaulted for not wearing a hijab. Jalili himself told an interviewer that they did not understand the "strategic depth" of the hijab laws. IRIB censored Pezeshkian's talk where he supported Mahsa Amini.