Mokhber, 68, was appointed vice president when Raisi took office in August 2021. (File)
Tehran, Iran:
Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, is expected to assume the presidency following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, as the country prepares for early elections.
The Iranian constitution stipulates that the first vice president takes over “in the event of the death, dismissal, dismissal, absence or illness of the president for more than two months.”
Raisi, who died on Sunday along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials, was nearing the end of his first four-year term as president.
Mokhber’s interim appointment requires the approval of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state.
Presidential elections to choose a permanent successor will be held within 50 days, according to the constitution.
A council made up of the president of parliament, the head of the judiciary and the vice-president will be in charge of organizing the national vote.
Mokhber, 68, was appointed vice president when Raisi took office in August 2021.
The vice president was born in the city of Dezful, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, where he held several official positions.
For years since 2007, Mokhber presided over the Execution of the Order of Imam Khomeini, a government organization tasked with managing property confiscated after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The foundation, created in the 1980s, grew over the years and became an important state-owned economic conglomerate with interests in various sectors.
Iranians have gone to the polls for presidential elections every four years since the first vote in the Islamic republic in 1980.
The constitution sets a two-term limit for Iranian presidents.
The position of prime minister does not exist in Iran and the president – assisted by several vice presidents – is responsible for nominating and directing the cabinet.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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