Al Jazeera :
Iran has begun the formal registration of presidential candidates ahead of a snap vote next month to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash earlier this month.
The election was originally slated for 2025 but was brought forward to June 28 following Raisi’s death on May 19.
“Candidate registration for the 14th presidential elections began at 8am [04:30 GMT] … at the interior ministry,” the official IRNA news agency said.
Presidential hopefuls will have five days to register, IRNA added.
Raisi and seven members of his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, were killed when their aircraft came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has since assigned Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president in accordance with the constitution.
On Thursday, state media reported that “around 30 people” came forward to submit applications for candidacy, but “none of them met the basic conditions for qualification”.
The AFP news agency reported that former reformist lawmaker Mostafa Kavakebian and conservative parliamentarian Mohammadreza Sabaghian submitted their applications to the Ministry of Interior.
Candidates must be between the ages of 40 and 75 and have at least a master’s degree, according to Iran’s electoral law.