Mohammad Mokhber (acting) First Vice President of Ebrahim Raisi Independent Masoud Pezeshkian Independent Early presidential elections in Iran were held on 28 June and 5 July 2024[1] following the death of incumbent president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on 19 May.

On 6 July 2024, the Ministry of Interior declared Pezeshkian the winner of the election,[5] with Jalili conceding defeat shortly thereafter.

[8] The helicopter carrying Raisi and seven other passengers and crew[9] crashed at approximately 13:30 IRST (UTC+03:30) near the village of Uzi in Varzaqan County in East Azerbaijan province.

[13] The president of Iran is usually elected every four years by a "direct vote of the people", as set out by Article 114 of the Iranian Constitution.

[13] The upcoming presidential election was scheduled to take place on or before 18 June 2025, but was held earlier due to the death of the president.

Under Iran's political system, the President is the country's highest directly elected official, the chief of the executive branch, and the second most important position after that of the Supreme Leader.

[21][22] After that, the elected president must recite and sign an oath in a session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in the presence of the members of the Guardian Council and the head of the Supreme Court.

[28] Opponents of the Iranian government, who wanted a boycott of the election, criticized the Biden administration for allowing the installation of voting stations in the United States.

[58] Six candidates were allowed by the Guardian Council to run for president, namely Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Saeed Jalili, Masoud Pezeshkian, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Alireza Zakani.

[60] In a speech on 3 June, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told candidates not to attack each other and expressed his preference for a "revolutionary president".

[64] The authorities gave 20GB of free internet data for use on domestic messengers and Telewebion for 30 days to mobile phones to promote information regarding the election.

[87] Ghalibaf promised to reduce the number of Afghan immigrants[88] and build a wall along Iran's borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[91] He said that he is open to closer relations with the United States and negotiating a new nuclear deal to alleviate Iran of its economic woes.

[94] He criticized Iranian military support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to what he called a lack of reciprocal benefits from Russia.

[103] The government also banned displaying images of candidates with Ali Khamenei and his predecessor as Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.

[77] In the debate, Ghalibaf made several false claims on the economy, regarding energy waste in the country, national GDP and productivity rate.

[118] Hashemi criticized Hassan Rouhani and the reformists for warmongering in Afghanistan and praised Ebrahim Raisi for making peace and not letting Israel advance.

Both candidates pledged to address issues involving the poor, workers, women, ethnic groups and religious minorities, as well as improve internet services.

Both candidates pledged to improve the economy, provide energy subsidies to the poor and facilitate the importation of cars while supporting domestic automobile makers.

[137] Overseas monarchist opposition figures and groups such as Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran, and the re-formed Iran-Novin Party called the election a circus.

[138][139] United Against Nuclear Iran, an anti-Iran lobby group in the US, claimed that IRGC Baqiatallah HQ was engineering the election.

[141] Although doing so is criminalized,[142] the Iranian Complainant Mothers,[143] Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani (the daughter of former president Akbar Rafsanjani),[144] Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi,[145] imprisoned activist Abolfazl Ghadyani,[146] house-arrested former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard[147] and the Coalition for a Secular Democratic Republic in Iran [fa][148] have called for the boycotting of the election.

Critics challenged its legitimacy, funding, and transparency, arguing it disrupts governance and lacks a clear legal basis in Iran.

[168] The Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran warned people against sharing posts with fake polls, declaring it a crime.

[178] Two members of the security forces were killed in a gun attack on a vehicle carrying election boxes in Sistan and Baluchistan.

[180] The interior ministry said it had arrested members of "Project 1000 Squares" which had planned to celebrate the election win of an undisclosed candidate.

Pezeshkian is expected to assume the presidency within 30 days of the election, after he resigns from his seat in the Islamic Consultative Assembly and gains the formal approval of Khamenei.

[189] In his first post victory op-ed Pezeshkian called the 25 year cooperation between China and Iran a milestone and commended Iran-Russia détente.

[193] Former minister Ata'ollah Mohajerani criticized the administration of President Mokhber for failing to fulfill its mandate and campaigning instead for Jalili.

[199][200] The Alliance for Democracy and Freedom in Iran's Hamed Esmaeilion, Reza Pahlavi and Masih Alinejad hailed the historically low turnout as a victory against the regime.