Former President Ahmadinejad says mulling filing for candidacy in Iran’s presidential election

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who rose to prominence in the beginning of his tenure and then was pushed to the sidelines for his controversial moves, is back on the stage again after the vacancy left by President Ebrahim Raisi’s demise.

Ahmadinejad resurfaced on Tuesday in a meeting of the Assembly of Experts after a long time of keeping a low profile and no-show, raising speculations that he is back in the political scene.

A group of his supporters gathered in front of the former president’s house to ask him to stand as a candidate in the presidential elections scheduled to be held on June 28.

Ahmadinejad said, “I am weighing the situation to decide whether to register as a candidate for the presidential election or not.”

“We have to wait for sweet developments in the country and the developments that are to the benefit of the people,” he added, without explaining further.

A two-term president from 2005 to 2013, Ahmadinejad was disqualified in April 2017 by the Guardian Council to run for the office for a third term.

The Iranian constitution mandates a presidential election within 50 days to fill the void created after the death of President Raisi and seven other companions on Sunday in a helicopter crash.

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