The accident involving the helicopter on which Raisi was traveling opens up the question of the transfer of power in the Islamic Republic
Of Silvia Caprioglio,
May 19, 2024
The accident involving the helicopter on which the Iranian president was travelling Ebrahim Raisi opens up to the question of the transfer of power in the Islamic Republic. Raisi, 63, was traveling with Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards. In the event of the sudden death of the president, the Iranian law it envisions power being transferred to the first vice president, who is now Mohammad Mokhber, who would take over as president with the approval of the supreme leader. According to the Iranian political hierarchy, the head of state is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the president is considered the head of government, the second in command. When the second in command dies, the first vice president takes office and within 50 days the country will have to go to elections to elect a new president.
A council composed of the president of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the head of the judiciary and the first vice president must arrange for elections within that period. Given the extreme centralization of power in the hands of the Supreme Leader, presidential candidates, and in particular their opponents, cannot stand freely in the elections but must be names approved by the Ayatollah. Raisi had won the Iranian presidential elections in 2021, with a vote that recorded the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic. His presidency was marked by strong protests, bloodily repressed, following the death in custody of the moral police of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian arrested on charges of not wearing the veil correctly. The episode provoked a wave of demonstrations nationally and abroad. The repression lasted months and led to over 500 deaths and the detention of over 22 thousand people.
