Iran Holds Presidential Election June 28, Candidate Registration Starts at the End of This Month

JAKARTA - Iran plans to hold presidential elections next month, with candidate registration opening from the end of this month, following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and a number of other officials in a helicopter crash.

The determination of the series of Iranian Presidential elections was determined after Iran's executive, legislative, and judicial elements held a meeting chaired by acting President Mohammad Mokhber, quoted from Mehr, May 21.

After the approval of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to become acting president, Mokhber was assigned to hold a meeting with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary Chairman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.

In the meeting Monday evening Iran time, they decided that Iran's next presidential election would be held on June 28.

Registration for candidates who will contest the presidential election is open from May 30 to June 3. Meanwhile, the campaign period will run from June 12 to morning of June 27.

According to the Iranian constitution, if the president dies, "the First Vice President assumes his powers and responsibilities with the approval of the Leader, and the council consisting of the Speaker of the Parliament, the Chairman of the Judiciary and the First Vice President is obliged to arrange for a new President to be elected within a maximum period of 50 days."

As previously reported, President Raisi and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollhian, had just returned from an event on the border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate the dam project on Sunday, when their helicopter crashed in bad weather conditions in a mountainous area in northwestern Iran.

Search and rescue workers found the crash site in the dense forest of Dizmar in East Azerbaijan Province on Monday morning after an 18-hour operation, which was hampered by thick fog, rain, and rugged terrain in the area.

Head of Iran's Disaster Management Organization Mohammad Hassan Nami said all the victims had been identified without requiring identification.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was devastated and lost by the death of President Raisi, is planned to lead prayers and a funeral ceremony for all the victims in Tehran on Wednesday.

Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri noted that a separate funeral ceremony will be held for President Raisi in South Khorasan Province on Thursday and he will be buried in his hometown, Mashhad, on the same day.