Iran prepares for presidential election and Raisi's funeral

People gather to mourn for the death of the late Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, Iran May 20, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Iranian authorities will hold a funeral for the late president Ebrahim Raisi on May 23 and the next presidential election on June 28.

They said the election will be held on June 28 to determine the new president and the registration of candidates will be carried out from May 30 to June 3, and the election campaign period will be from June 12-27, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran states the formation of a council to manage the executive affairs of the country for a period of 50 days and prepare for the presidential elections.

While Iran is mourning the death of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and a number of senior provincial officials for the second of five-day national mourning, authorities issued a notice, saying that a funeral will be held for Raisi in South Khorasan Province on May 23 and he will be laid to rest in his hometown Mashhad same day.

Raisi and his accompanying team lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Varzaqan, northwestern Iran, on Sunday while returning from a ceremony to open a dam on Iran's border with Azerbaijan.

Hojjatoleslam Mahmoud Hosseini, the director of a local office of Iran's Islamic Propagation Organization in Tabriz, told IRNA that in the funeral procession on May 21, the people of Tabriz will bid farewell to the president and carry his body to the Tabriz airport.

People in Teheran are already holding ceremonies mourning the death of Raisi.

Both Turkiye and Sri Lanka have announced a one-day mourning for the Iranian president, as cited by the Daily Mirror news website and IRNA.