Organizing Iran’s presidential election at different stages centers around two main bodies, the Guardian Council and the Ministry of Interior.
The campaigning stage in Iran’s presidential elections
After the names of the final candidates are released by the Guardian Council, the official campaign period starts and approved candidates have almost two weeks to convince the public to vote for them. Campaigning ends 24 hours before the Election Day.
Iran’s Broadcasting also plays a pivotal role at this stage by providing panels and interview times for the candidates to explain their plans and policies if they get elected as president. According to the law, every candidate has equal access to State media for purposes of campaigning.
But there are rules and regulations that each candidate must comply with during their campaigning; For example, government employees are not allowed to campaign for or against candidates. It is also illegal to destroy the posters or ads of any candidates during the campaign period. Candidates and their supporters are prohibited from insulting or defaming other candidates. Election officials are also barred from campaigning for candidates.
How do Iranians vote in a presidential election?
In Iran, voting is quite easy, which means Iranians can vote anywhere as long as they have one id card with them to show it to the voting officials at any polling station across the country. Each person has one vote and everyone at their 18 or above can vote.
The voters enter to a polling station, show their id card to the officials in the place, fill in the name of their desired candidate in a paper ballot, fold the ballot in half and cast it in a ballot box. In recent years, Iran has been using electronic voting machines to make both voting and counting process easier and to minimize fraud.
The counting stage
Before any votes are cast, all empty ballot boxes must be inspected and sealed by the registration and polling stations’ staff. These happen in the presence of the representative/s of the Supervision Committee.
Once the polling station is closed, the counting process begins. Polling station officials first count the ballot stubs, followed by the ballots. If the number of stubs and ballots are equal, then the actual vote count begins. If there are more votes than ballots, then the difference is randomly selected from the ballot box and the votes cancelled, then the ballots are counted. In cases where there are more stubs than ballots, the discrepancy is reported and the votes are counted.
After counting the ballots inside and outside the country, the Ministry of Interior must inform the public about the final results of the elections through mass media.
How is the winner determined and pronounced?
The Iranian President is elected by an absolute majority of votes. This means that the candidate with 50%+1 of the votes is the winner.
In case there is no absolute majority for one candidate, the law calls for a runoff election between the top two vote getters. The runoff election is mandated to take place within one week after the first round of election is held.
Once a winner is determined, the Guardian Council approves the election process and the Supreme Leader signs off on the Letter of Presidency. The new president takes the oath of office before the Iranian Parliament and starts his job.
