Iran: next year’s presidential elections set for June 14 – report
An Iranian woman votes at a polling station in Tehran on March 2, 2012. Iran’s 48 million voters are being called on to decide their next parliament today in elections whose turnout will be weighed to give an idea of support for the Islamic republic’s regime.
Iranian election officials today announced the country's upcoming presidential election will be held on June 14, 2013, according to this report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
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Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cannot serve another (third) term in office, so the race is likely to devolve into a fight between those loyal to Ahmadinejad and those who oppose him but are allied with Supreme Leader Khamenei — part of a widening rift that has split the country's powerful religious establishment.
In March, Khamenei allies swept the country's parliamentary elections, taking 75 percent of seats in a huge loss for Ahmadinejad, according to Reuters. Some believe the presidential vote may play out similarly.
Iran's opposition-led reformist camp has been effectively silenced, with former presidential candidates Mousavi and Karrubi under house arrest since last February. The results of the 2009 presidential election were controversial. The opposition, mostly led by Mousavi's Green Movement, accused the government of fraud, sparking the greatest social unrest seen in Iran since the 1979 establishment of the Islamic Republic.
The Associated Press, citing IRNA, said the June 14 vote will be the first to come alongside municipal elections, where candidates will be vying for as many as 100,000 seats in local councils.