Explainer | Who’s Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s next President?

The 60-year-old, perceived to be close to the Supreme Leader, has held various positions in the establishment and was also part of the ‘death commission’ that oversaw executions in the 80s.

With the victory of Ebrahim Raisi, the conservative chief of Iran’s judiciary, in Friday’s presidential election, the country’s clerical establishment has tightened its grip on the Islamic Republic. When 90% of the ballots were counted, Mr. Raisi won 62% of the vote. Other candidates have conceded the race. Mr. Raisi would replace the moderate President Hassan Rouhani, whose tenure was marked by international diplomacy, pressure, regional tensions and growing protests and crackdown at home. The 60-year-old Mr. Raisi, who traces his lineage back to the Prophet Mohammed (which allows him to wear a black turban), is a loyal, senior figure in Iran’s establishment. He contested the 2017 Presidential election, but lost to Mr. Rouhani, who secured a second term. But the defeat did not deter Mr. Raisi’s rise as one of the more important clerics in the country’s tightly held politico-religious system. In 2019, Mr. Raisi, reportedly close to the Supreme Leader, was appointed the Chief Justice. In the same year, he was named deputy chief of the 88-member Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that will pick the next Supreme Leader when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei departs.