[custom_adv] The president of Iran is elected for a four years term that renewable only once. It is the country's highest directly elected official, the chief of the executive branch, and the second most important position after the Supreme Leader. [custom_adv] Any Iranian citizen born in Iran, believing in Allah and Islam, who has always been loyal to the Constitution,Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic may register as a presidential candidate. An institution called the Election Monitoring Agency (EMA) and managed by the Guardian Council vets registered candidates and selects a handful to run in the election. [custom_adv] The Guardian Council does not publicly announce the reason for rejections of particular candidates, although those reasons are explained to each candidate. Women who registered as candidates have been excluded from standing for election by the Guardian Council. [custom_adv] "We have not rejected any woman due to being a woman", spokeman of the Guardian Council said. He clarified that there is no obstacle for womens registration in the elections. [custom_adv] Those approved by the Guardian Council are put to a public vote on the weekend. The winner is the candidate who got 50% of the votes + 1 vote. If no one gets enough votes, next weekend, once again, an election will be held only between the two candidates with the most votes. [custom_adv] Once the result is known, according to the constitution, the Supreme Leader must sign the decree of the elected president, and if he refuses to sign, the elected president will not have the presidency over the executive branch. Supreme Leaders of Iran have always signed the decree of the elected president hereunto. [custom_adv] After that, according to the constitution, the elected president must oath in the inauguration in the Islamic Consultative Assembly to the members of parliment and members of the Guardian Council and the head of the Supreme Court that he will do his best to perform the duties. [custom_adv] Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Iran in 2021. However, the elections can be held earlier under exceptional circumstances, such as the deposition, resignation or death of the president. [custom_adv] It will be the thirteenth presidential election in Iran. Under the Iranian constitution, Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent president, is ineligible to run for re-election as he was limited to two terms or 8 years in office. [custom_adv] Raisi, a former attorney general and custodian of the significant Astan Quds Razavi in Mashhad who was sanctioned by the US in 2019 for human rights violations, enjoys strong backing from a wide range of conservatives and hardliners. [custom_adv] Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf did not register in support of Raisi but former foreign minister Saeed Jalili did register. [custom_adv] Both Raisi and Ghalibaf unsuccessfully ran against outgoing President Hassan Rouhani in 2017, but Raisi managed to garner 38 percent of the votes, or just under 16 million. [custom_adv] Additionally, Mohsen Rezaei, former IRGC commander-in-chief and current secretary of the Expediency Council who has run unsuccessfully four more times, as well as Iran’s central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati also registered.