Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
An ultraconservative scholar Iran, Ebrahim Raisi was elected president, replacing Hassan Rouhani who has served for two terms.
Iran’s presidential election was held on Friday (18/6). The election was tight after three of the seven presidential candidates resigned.
During the campaign period, Raisi made the discourse of eradicating corruption an important part of his program. However, critics say he has long been an integral part of Iran’s corrupt and repressive political institutions.
Raisi is the head of Iran’s judiciary, one of the most powerful positions in the government.
Previously, in 2017, he had run for the Iranian presidential election, but lost to Hassan Rouhani.
Raisi, when running in this year’s presidential election, was Iran’s chief justice, known for its policy of mass executions of thousands of prisoners in the late 1980s.
Iranian media regard the man who often wears a black turban as the successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Raisi was born in 1960 in a small village near the holy city of Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city.
Young Raisi was Khamenei’s protégé when he attended seminary in Qom. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, young Raisi joined the prosecutor’s office in Masjed Soleyman. Since then he has led the prosecutor’s office in a number of areas.
Raisi belongs to the ultraconservative camp who does not trust the United States. He even often considers the US as the “Great Satan”. Therefore, he became known as one of the opponents of President Hassan Rouhani so far, who has a more moderate approach to Western nations, especially the US.
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Supporters of Ebrahim Raisi during Iran’s 2021 presidential election campaign in Tehran, June 14, 2021. (AFP/ATTA KENARE)- – |
Raisi’s Track Record in Government
In 2016, Raisi was appointed to lead the Astan Quds Razavi foundation, a politically and economically powerful role.
The foundation runs the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, a major Shiite pilgrimage site. It serves as both a charity and a holding company for a wide range of properties and businesses, from agriculture to construction.
After Raisi ran the economic empire for three years, Khamenei appointed him to preside over Iran’s judiciary in 2019.
As chairman, he led the fight against corruption, along the way toppled and tarnished the reputation of some of his main political opponents.
That same year, Raisi was elected vice president of another important body: the Iranian Assembly of Experts, which was tasked with electing the next supreme leader when 82-year-old Khamenei died.
Raisi is considered a potential contender to replace Khamenei. And now, with his election as president further enhances Raisi’s legitimacy as Khamenei’s successor.
(one/kid)
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