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Call for Changes to Presidential Election Registration Law

Call for Changes to Presidential Election Registration Law
Call for Changes to Presidential Election Registration Law

A parliamentarian has called for an amendment to the election law that would tighten requirements for registration in presidential elections.

“The main problem with the presidential election law is that it allows an overwhelming number of people to sign up for the job. Changes are necessary in the law to avoid [that],” Hamid Reza Kazemi said in an interview with ICANA on Tuesday.

A total of 1,636 individuals registered to run for president last month.

The long list complicated the task of the Guardian Council, a panel of six senior clerics and six jurists tasked with vetting candidates seeking public office.

After vetting was over, the oversight body approved six to run in the presidential race, namely incumbent President Hassan Rouhani and his backers, Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri and former industries and mines minister Mostafa Hashemitaba, and their conservative opponents, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH) Ebrahim Raeisi, and former culture minister Mostafa Mirsalim.

Qalibaf and Jahangiri stepped aside prior to election day in favor of Raeisi and Rouhani, respectively.

Rouhani beat the full-fledged challenge from his conservative rivals to secure an emphatic reelection by garnering 57% of the vote on May 19.

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