List of Iranian presidential elections

The President of Iran is the highest official elected by direct, popular vote, although the President carries out the decrees, and answers to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state.^[1][2] Unlike the executive in other countries, the President of Iran does not have full control over anything, as these are ultimately under the control of the Supreme Leader.^[3][4] Chapter IX of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran sets forth the qualifications for presidential candidates. The procedures for presidential election and all other elections in Iran are outlined by the Supreme Leader.^[5][6] The President functions as the executive of the decrees and wishes of the Supreme Leader. These include signing treaties and other agreements with foreign countries and international organizations, with Supreme Leader's approval; administering national planning, budget, and state employment affairs, as decreed by the Supreme Leader.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]} The President also appoints the ministers, subject to the approval of Parliament, and the Supreme Leader who can dismiss or reinstate any of the ministers at any time, regardless of the president or parliament's decision.^[16][17][18]

As such, the current long-time Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has been ruling for nearly three decades, has been issuing decrees and making the final decisions on economy, environment, foreign policy, national planning such as population growth, and everything else in Iran.^{[7][8][10][11][12][19][20]} Khamenei also makes the final decisions on the amount of transparency in elections in Iran,^[21] and has fired and reinstated Presidential cabinet appointments.^[16][17]

Candidates have to be vetted by the Guardian Council, a twelve-member body consisting of six clerics (selected by Iran's Supreme Leader), and six lawyers (proposed by the head of Iran's judicial system and voted in by the Parliament).^[22]

The Guardian Council interprets the term supervision in Article 99 as "approbation supervision" (Persian: نظارت استصوابی‎)^[23] which implies the right for acceptance or rejection of elections legality and candidates competency. This interpretation is in contrast with the idea of "notification supervision" (Persian: نظارت استطلاعی‎) which does not imply the mentioned approval right.^[24] The "evidentiary supervision" (Persian: نظارت استنادی‎), which requires evidences for acceptance or rejection of elections legality and candidates competency, is another interpretation of mentioned article.^[25][26]

References