Reformist Mostafa Kavakebian Makes Another Bid for Iran’s Presidency

Mostafa Kavakebian formally registers his candidacy for the Iranian Presidential election, May 30, 2024.
Mostafa Kavakebian formally registers his candidacy for the Iranian Presidential election, May 30, 2024.

Mostafa Kavakebian, a reformist politician, has once again stepped into the fray by registering for the upcoming presidential election scheduled for June 28. 

Kavakebian, 61, the Secretary General of the Democracy Party and editor-in-chief of the Mardomsalari newspaper, has faced numerous setbacks in his political career, including being disqualified by the conservative Guardian Council in 2005, 2013, 2017, and 2021 Presidential elections.

His political career includes serving as a representative in the Iranian Parliament for Tehran from 2016 to 2020, and earlier for Semnan and Mehdishahr from 2008 to 2012. 

Meanwhile, an advisor to former interior minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said Thursday that he too is going to register for the presidential election. Pour-Mohammadi, who served as minister of justice from 2013 to 2017, has been a controversial figure, particularly noted for his justification of the 1988 mass killings of political prisoners as fulfilling divine commandments. 

Estimates indicate that between 4,500 and 10,000 prisoners were executed when the clerical rulers chose to eliminate those they considered oppositional.