On October 15, 2016, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei announced the general policies on elections on the basis of Clause 1 of Article 110 of the Constitution and after consultation with the Expediency Council.
At the time, the Leader granted the authority to the Council to define and announce the necessary criteria and standards for determining political and religious personalities and the qualities that determine the managerial characteristics and skillfulness of presidential candidates.
One year later, the law watchdog body introduced a set of regulations and set out its criteria and standards on political and religious personalities, managerial characteristics and skillfulness of presidential candidates.
Hadi Tahan Nazif, a jurist member of the Constitutional Council, declared the decision on Wednesday and said that the updated requirements for the candidates include issues related to age, college degree, and managerial and work experience and records.
He said that all members of the vetting body had during a Wednesday meeting reached a consensus on addressing the disorder that arises in the registration of presidential hopefuls each time and define new criteria.
The jurist pointed to the fact that every four years, a large number of people attend election headquarters, announce their candidacy, and register simply by holding photos and a copy of their identity cards.
A report presented at the meeting revealed that out of a total of 1,636 people who had registered for the 2017 presidential election, about 1,200 had a bachelor’s or lower degrees, and some 300 had criminal records.
Tahan Nazif said the Council decided to amend an earlier interpretation of the Constitution to define and declare the criteria used to determine a political and religious personality and separate out large numbers of people who nominate with very basic or no qualifications.
“Following much deliberation, it was decided that… presidential hopefuls be required to have minimum qualifications in terms of educational degree, work and managerial experience, and minimum and maximum ages,” he said.
He added that the Interior Ministry has been informed and instructed clearly about the new interpretation before the registration of volunteers seeking to contest for the country’s 13th presidential election starts.
Iran’s 13th presidential election is slated for June 18, 2021. The sixth local councils’ elections will be held on the same day.
Candidates hoping to run in the next elections are to apply in early April for approval. The final list is to be announced by the Constitutional Council in early June.
The Constitutional Council is a constitutionally mandated 12-member council in Iran that, among other things, is tasked with ensuring the compatibility of the legislation passed by the parliament with the criteria of Islam and the Constitution.