Presidential elections were held in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

on 8 June 2001, and resulted in

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 t ...

being elected as the

President of Iran The president of Iran ( fa, رئیس‌جمهور ایران, Rayis Jomhur-e Irān) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is the second highest-ranking official of Iran after the Supreme Leader. The president ...

for his second term.

Candidates

Although 814 candidates registered for the election, including 25 women, the

Guardian Council The Guardian Council, (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, fa, شورای نگهبان, Shourā-ye Negahbān) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence i ...

reduced it to ten. The final candidates were: *

, Incumbent

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Ahmad Tavakkoli Ahmad Tavakkoli (; born 5 March 1951) is an Iranian conservative and principlist politician, journalist. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council. Also he is currently managing-director of ''Alef'' news website and founder of t ...

, Former Minister of Labour and Social Affairs *

Ali Shamkhani Ali Shamkhani ( Persian: , born 29 September 1955) is an Iranian two-star general. He is the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. Early life and education Shamkhani was born on 29 September 1955 in Ahvaz, Khuzestan. His fa ...

, Incumbent Minister of Defense *

Abdollah Jassbi Abdollah Jafarali Jassbi (born 25 November 1944) is an Iranian academic and politician who was president of Azad University from the establishment of the university in 1982 until his resignation in 2012. He was also a presidential candidate in 19 ...

, Incumbent Chancellor of

Islamic Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; fa, دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی, ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a private university system headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleg ...

* Mahmoud Kashani, Former Iranian delegation to the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

Hassan Ghafourifard Hassan Ghafourifard ( fa, حسن غفوری‌فرد) (born 5 August 1943) is an Iranian academic and conservative politician. Ghafourifard held government portfolios in the 1980s, before being appointed as the Physical Education Organization unde ...

, Former Minister of Energy and Member of Parliament * Mansour Razavi, Incumbent Member of City Council of Tehran * Shahabedin Sadr, Former Member of Parliament *

Ali Fallahian Ali Fallahian ( fa, علی فلاحیان , born 23 October 1949) is an Iranian politician and cleric. He served as intelligence minister from 1989 to 1997 under the presidency of Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. Early life and education Fallahian was bo ...

, Former Minister of Intelligence * Mostafa Hashemitaba, Incumbent Head of Physical Education Organization

Campaign

After the scandalous final two years of his term, Mohammad Khatami was expected to be elected by a much smaller margin than in 1997. His term was marred by the unlawful arrest of political activists, killings of Iranian dissidents, and closure of several Iranian newspapers. Though Khatami was still believed to win by a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

, this oppression was thought to significantly impact his performance in the election. Initially, Khatami had considered not running for reelection. But, after months of his supporters and party members pleading with him, he finally decided to declare his candidacy two months before the start of the election. Central to Khatami's campaign were the issues of economic revival, job growth, and democratic reform. Khatami also sought to restore the austerity of the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

. According to CNN, Khatami's aides described his campaign as a “referendum for reform”. Most of Khatami's nine other challengers were independent conservatives, according to BBC.

Results

Turnout

References

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

June 2001 events in Asia 2001 elections in Iran {{Iran-election-stub