Conservative hard-liner poised to be Iran’s next president

Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in Economics of the Middle East, Brandeis University
Thu, June 17, 2021, 12:58 PM·6 min read
In this article:

The leading candidate is Ebrahim Raisi, chief of Iran’s judiciary and close ally of the supreme leader. He is all but assured of a victory after the candidates who could have posed a serious challenge to him – including three reformists – were disqualified and prevented from participating in the election.

https://news.yahoo.com/conservative-hard-liner-poised-irans-195819933.html
The unprecedented disqualifications have outraged large groups of liberal and moderate voters, and many have pledged to boycott the election. As a result, the turnout is expected to be well below 50%, and most likely a historic low.

But who is Ebrahim Raisi, and how would his presidency alter Iran’s domestic and foreign policies? As an economist and close observer of Iran, I believe we can start to answer these questions by exploring his past.

Loyal insider
Raisi is a loyal regime insider with a long career in Iran’s judicial branch, which goes back more than four decades.

He was only 19 when the Islamic revolution deposed the shah in 1979. As a young Islamic activist, he caught the attention of several top revolutionary clerics, including Ali Khamenei, who became Iran’s supreme leader a decade later.

Named the general prosecutor of Kataj – a small city near Tehran – at age 20, Raisi quickly rose to more prominent positions. In 1989, when Khamenei replaced Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader, Raisi was promoted to chief prosecutor-general of Tehran.

This promotion reflected the high level of trust that Khamenei had in him. While serving in these positions, Raisi also attended seminary and religious studies under Khamenei and other influential religious leaders.