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Iranian presidential election of 2005 will take place in May or June, 2005. Mohammad Khatami, the present President of Iran, will need to step down on August 2, 2005, after serving his maximal two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution.
The schedule of the election is not determined yet, but will be decided between the Ministry of Interior and the Guardian Council. According to the presidential election law, the registration of the candidates may begin no earlier than three Iranian months before the end of the previous president's term ( May 1, 2005). Also, according to the Iranian constitution, the election should take place at least one month eariler than the end of the term ( July 2, 2005). But since the election may continue into a runoff race, which will take place at least a week later than the first round of elections, it's almost impossible for the first round to take place later than June 24, 2005. Most possibly, the election will take place in late May or early June.
The first suggetion by the Ministry, for May 13, 2005, was rejected by the Council on November 13, 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co.
No person has confirmed that he is running for the post of president yet, and the registration will only begin on May, 2005, or possibly later.
The candidates must first be approved by the Guardian Council before being put to public vote, and there is a chance that some of the possible reformist candidates won't win the approval, specially Behzad NabaviBehzad Nabavi ( in Persian) (born 1941) is an Iranian politician. He was the former Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Iran and one of the founders of the reformist party Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization. He is considered one of the contemp or Mohammad Reza Khatami, who were rejected by the Council in the parliamentary elections of 2004. Also, there is a very high probability of rejection of women, because of an ambiguous term ("rejaal", رجال) in the Constitution of Iran, which is a requirement for presidential candidates which either means "men" or "famous people". The Guardian Council, who is also the official interpreter of the constitution, has mentioned on previous elections that the restriction has not been considered in depth yet, since according to the Council's opinion there were no women who passed the other requirements of the constitution.
There are also discussions about a possible new law passed by the Majlis, restrictiing the maximum age of the candidates for the presidential elections, which may limit participation of older candidates, probably Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mehdi Karroubi. But the Guardian Council, which is required to confirm every law passed by the Majlis, will most probably reject such a law, as mentioned by the Council's speaker, Gholamhossein Elham , on November 13, 2004.
There exist many contradicting reports about the possible candidates and people's declinations. The list of possible candidates include:
See also: Politics of Iran