Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the country’s June 28 election, Iranian state television reported Sunday.
However, he could be barred from the race: the Board of Trustees, led by the country’s clergy, has candidates and will publish a list of qualified people on June 11.
Ahmadinejad, a former member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, was first elected as Iran’s president in 2005 and resigned due to term limits in 2013.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was barred from running in the 2017 election by the Guardian Council, a year after he warned that his entry was “not in the interest of him and the country”.
Since Ahmadinejad openly supported the latest inquiry into Khamenei’s authority, the two clashed.
In a rare criticism of Khamenei in 2018, Ahmadinejad wrote that he called for “free” elections.
Khamenei supported Ahmadinejad after his re-election in 2009, when he spoke out against the ruling theocracy following protests that left dozens dead and hundreds arrested.
