Azerbaijan, Baku, May 8 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
On the first day of registration process, a total of 75 people submitted their candidatures for the presidential elections in the country, Interior Minister of Iran Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said, Mehr reported.
Speaking to the journalists on Wednesday morning, Najjar noted that after each day of registration, the electoral headquarters would be sending the submitted registrations to the Guardian Council.
On May 7, only 5 of 75 presidential hopefuls who submitted registrations, were politicians: Sadeq Vaez Zadeh, Hassan Rouhani, Mostafa Kavakebian, Mohammad Saeedikia and Kamran Bagheri Lankarani.
Vaez Zadeh is Ahmadinejad's former deputy on science related issues, and a professor at the Tehran University's Electrical Power Engineering Department. He is also an active member of Iran's Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and Expediency Council.
Hassan Rouhani is Iranian political figure close to reformists and member of Iran's Expediency Council. He has been also deputy speaker of the 4th and 5th terms of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005. He was also heading Iran's former nuclear negotiating team and was the country's top negotiator with the EU-3 - UK, France, and Germany - on the Iran's nuclear program.
Mostafa Kevakebian was the first reformist political figure who submitted his registration for the elections. He's also the Secretary General of the Democratic Party (Mardomsalari).
Mohammad Saeedikia is an Iranian politician who served as government minister in different cabinets, the last of which was minister of housing and urban development from 2005 to 2009.
Kamran Bagheri Lankarani is a former Minister of Health and Medical Education of Iran. He is the founder and editor of Iran's first Journal of Medical electronics.
Official registration of candidates for Iran's upcoming presidential elections started on May 7, and will last until May 11.
From May 12-16, Iran's Guardian Council will look into the each candidate, and determine whether a candidate is eligible for participating.
If a candidate, for some reason is not eligible for participating in the elections according to the Guardian Council, then from May 17-21, that candidate will have time to protest the decision.
Iran's Interior Ministry will unveil the names of the candidates which are competitive enough to participate in the elections on May 22-23.
After the candidates have been determined, the pre-election campaigns would begin on May 24, and end on June 12. The presidential elections in the country will be held on June 14, 2013.