Ahmadinejad Enters Iranian Presidential Race

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Brandon Kirby
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As Iran gears up for its May 19th election, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad entered his name as a last-minute candidate.

The bid for the presidency has international and domestic ramifications; his candidacy is a direct challenge to Iran’s theocracy as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered him not to run.

There is still a vetting process done by the Guardian Council, largely selected by Khamenei, who screens candidates based on political and Islamic criteria. It has been speculated that Ahmadinejad likely won’t make it through this approval process.

Ahmadinejad insists he isn’t running as a serious contender and his bid is only to support his previous deputy, Hamid Baghaei, who also registered on Wednesday. Ahmadinejad believes it would be politically costly for the council to reject both members of the previous government.

“I repeat that I am committed to my moral promise [to not run] and my presence and registration is only to support Mr. Baghaei,” asserted Ahmadinejad.

Baghaei spent seven months in prison for undisclosed charges in 2015 for a case that remains open.

Current president Hassan Rouhani is viewed as a political moderate. Rouhani brokered the 2015 nuclear deal, which sought to remove economic sanctions against Iran, and has since faced backlash from conservatives who oppose the deal and moderates as his militaristic actions have led to the sanctions being reimposed. As of February, Iran hit double-digit inflation rates.

The anti-Western sentiments of Ahmadinejad left Iran isolated on an international level, and the sanctions left Iran crippled economically. In spite of this, he remains a popular figure in Iran’s poorest regions due to his populist approach.

The international implications are even more precarious as the regional cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia has begun to involve NATO and Russia. Iran has been a major supporter of Syria’s Assad regime and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and is suspected to be a weapons supplier to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Ahmadinejad’s entrance into the election is introducing a volatile element to an already unstable situation.

 

Photo Credit: Atta Kenare / AFP – Getty Images

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Brandon Kirby

Brandon Kirby has a philosophy degree from the University of New Brunswick and is a current MBA candidate finishing his thesis. He is an AML officer specializing in hedge funds in the Cayman Islands, owns a real estate company in Canada, and has been in the financial industry since 2004. He is the director of Being Libertarian - Canada and the president of the Libertarian Party of Canada.

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