Current Final

Author: AFP

  • India’s six-week election ends with vote in Hindu holy city Varanasi

    India’s six-week election ends with vote in Hindu holy city Varanasi

    VARANASI: Indians flocked to the polls under scorching heat in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi on Saturday as a marathon national election reached its final day, six weeks after the voting first began.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a third term in office when results are announced Tuesday, in large part due to his cultivated image as an aggressive champion of India’s majority faith.

    The 73-year-old’s constituency of Varanasi is the spiritual capital of Hinduism, where devotees from around India come to cremate deceased loved ones by the Ganges river.

    It is one of the final cities to vote in India’s gruelling election and where public support for Modi’s ever-closer alignment of religion and politics burns brightest.

    “Modi is obviously winning,” Vijayendra Kumar Singh, who works in one of the popular pilgrimage destination’s many hotels, told AFP.

    “There’s a sense of pride with everything he does, and that’s why people vote for him.”

    Modi has already led the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to two landslide victories in 2014 and 2019, forged in large part by his appeal to the Hindu faithful.

    This year, he presided over the inauguration of a grand temple to the deity Ram, built on the grounds of a centuries-old mosque in Ayodhya razed by Hindu zealots in 1992.

    Construction of the temple fulfilled a longstanding demand of Hindu activists and was widely celebrated across the country with back-to-back television coverage and street parties.

    The ceremony, and numerous other chest-beating appeals to India’s majority religion over the past decade, have in turn made many among the country’s 200 million-plus minority Muslim community increasingly uneasy about their futures.

    Modi himself has made a number of strident comments about Muslims on the campaign trail, referring to them as “infiltrators”.

    He has also accused the motley coalition of more than two dozen opposition parties contesting the poll against him of plotting to redistribute India’s wealth to its Muslim citizens.

    ‘Already so hot’

    India has voted in seven phases over six weeks to ease the immense logistical burden of staging an election in the world’s most populous country.

    Both counting and results are expected on Tuesday, but exit polls published after polls close Saturday are expected to give some indication of the winner.

    Turnout is down several percentage points from the last national election in 2019, with analysts blaming widespread expectations of a Modi victory as well as successive heatwaves scorching India’s northern states.

    Extensive scientific research shows climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense, with Asia warming faster than the global average.

    A scorching sun bore down on Varanasi and its countless temples and riverside crematoriums during Saturday’s vote, with temperatures forecast to peak at 44°C (111 Fahrenheit).

    “It’s already so hot,” Chinta Devi, who arrived to cast her vote at eight in the morning, told AFP.

    “Varanasi has felt hotter than usual over the last few days,” she added. “You see all the streets and markets empty.”

    ‘A lot more respect’

    Analysts have long expected Modi to triumph against the opposition alliance competing against him, which at no point has named an agreed candidate for prime minister.

    His prospects have been further bolstered by several criminal probes into his opponents and a tax investigation this year that froze the bank accounts of Congress, India’s largest opposition party.

    Western democracies have largely sidestepped concerns over rights and democratic freedoms in the hopes of cultivating an ally that can help check the growing assertiveness of China, India’s northern neighbour and rival regional power.

    Modi’s image at home has been bolstered by India’s rising diplomatic and economic clout — the country overtook Britain as the world’s fifth-biggest economy in 2022.

    “As an Indian, I feel that he has ensured a lot of respect and prestige for India during his term,” Shikha Aggarwal, 40, told AFP while waiting to cast her vote.

    “People now look at India and Indians with a lot more respect, something not accorded earlier.”

  • Israel pounds Gaza after Biden outlines ceasefire plan

    Israel pounds Gaza after Biden outlines ceasefire plan

    Israeli forces hammered Rafah in southern Gaza with tanks and artillery on Saturday, hours after US President Joe Biden said Israel was offering a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire.

    Shortly after Biden’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his country would still pursue the war until it had reached all its aims.

    He reiterated that position on Saturday, saying that “Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel”.

    A permanent ceasefire without those conditions being met was “a non-starter”, he said.

    Hamas, meanwhile, said it “views positively” the plan laid out by Biden.

    In his first major address outlining a possible end to the conflict, the US president said Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.

    It would also see the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for (the) release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners”.

    Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire — but the truce would continue while the talks remained underway, Biden said.

    The US leader urged Hamas to accept the Israeli offer. “It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” he said, in comments echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

    Israel insists on war aims

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Friday to press the deal.

    UN chief Antonio Guterres “strongly hopes” the latest development “will lead to an agreement by the parties for lasting peace”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

    German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Israeli offer “provides a glimpse of hope and a possible path out of the war’s deadlock”, while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed a “balanced and realistic” approach to end the bloodshed.

    Saudi Arabia stressed its “support for all efforts aimed at an immediate ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. 

    Indonesia, meanwhile, said it was ready to send “significant peacekeeping forces” as well as medical personnel to Gaza if a ceasefire is agreed.

    But Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation of what was on the table, insisting on Friday the transition from one stage to the next in the proposed roadmap was “conditional” and crafted to allow Israel to maintain its war aims.

    “The prime minister authorised the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving (the return of hostages), while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved,” Netanyahu’s office said.

    “The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles.”

    Israel has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7.

    Rafah Massacre

    Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in early May, ignoring concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.

    On Saturday, residents reported tank fire in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in west Rafah, while witnesses in the east and centre of Rafah described intense artillery shelling.

    “From the early hours of the night until this morning, the aerial and artillery bombardment has not stopped for a single moment”, a resident from west Rafah told AFP on condition of anonymity.

    “There are a number of occupation (Israeli) snipers in high-rise buildings overseeing all areas of Tal al-Sultan… making the situation very dangerous”, the resident added.

    There was also shelling and gunfire from the Israeli army in Gaza City, in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to an AFP reporter.

    Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.

    Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.

    The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory’s main exit point.

    ‘Everything is ashes’

    Israel said last week that aid deliveries had been stepped up.

    But Blinken acknowledged on Friday that the humanitarian situation was “dire” despite US efforts to bring in more assistance.

    The World Food Programme said daily life had become “apocalyptic” in parts of southern Gaza since Israel began its assault on Rafah in early May.

    The genocide in Gaza has killed at least 36,379 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

    In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia and its neighbouring refugee camp, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanun to evacuate ahead of an imminent assault.

    The Israeli army said troops “completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip”.

    Jabalia shopkeeper Belal al-Kahlot said there was nothing left of his store after the Israeli operation. “Everything is ashes.”

    The Israeli military announced the deaths of two soldiers in Gaza, taking to 294 the number of Israeli troops killed since the start of ground operations in late October.

  • Countries vote to give Palestinians more rights at WHO

    Countries vote to give Palestinians more rights at WHO

    The World Health Organization’s top decision-making body voted Friday to grant Palestinians additional rights, echoing a similar decision in May by the United Nations General Assembly.

    Countries gathered for this week’s World Health Assembly, the annual gathering in Geneva of the WHO’s 194 member states, overwhelmingly approved a draft resolution on “aligning the participation of Palestine” in the WHO with its participation in the United Nations.

    A full 101 of the 177 countries with voting rights backed the text, with five opposed.

    The resolution, presented by a group of mainly Arab and Muslim countries along with China, Nicaragua and Venezuela, called for the Palestinians, which already have observer status at the WHO, to be granted virtually all the same rights as full members.

    The vote came after UN members voted in New York in May to grant Palestinians more rights in the global body, after their drive for full membership was blocked by the United States.

    At the WHA in Geneva, Palestinian officials and their backers did not attempt to ask for full membership.

    Several diplomatic sources suggested that was due to concern that a vote for Palestinian membership would trigger an automatic suspension of US funding to the WHO.

    The text approved Friday instead handed the Palestinians, among other things, “the right to be seated among member states… the right to submit proposals and amendments… (and) to be elected as officers in the plenary and the main committees of the Health Assembly”.

    But it noted that “Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the Health Assembly or to put forward its candidature to WHO’s organs”.

    Israeli genocide against Palestinians has killed at least 36,224 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

  • In historic first, Mexicans expected to elect woman president

    In historic first, Mexicans expected to elect woman president

    Millions of Mexicans are expected to vote for their first woman president in a landmark election Sunday, following a long and sometimes acrimonious race overshadowed by soaring political violence.

    In a watershed for a country with a long history of gender discrimination, two women have dominated the contest to lead the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country.

    Addressing a cheering crowd of thousands at her closing campaign rally, ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico was going to “make history” this weekend.

    “I say to the young women, to all the women of Mexico — colleagues, friends, sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers — you are not alone,” the 61-year-old said.

    Her vow to champion women’s rights was music to the ears of Evelyn Trasvina.

    “I’m very excited,” said the 42-year-old accountant from western Mexico.

    “Many people have been lifted out of poverty and one of the promises is the recognition of women’s unpaid work,” she told AFP.

    Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and a scientist by training, was leading her main opposition rival Xochitl Galvez, also 61, by around 17 points in opinion polls days before the election.

    Nearly 100 million people are registered to vote in the country of 129 million, and 61-year-old housewife Rosa Maria Miranda said that criminal violence meant Galvez would get her support.

    “We women are fed up. We’re afraid to go out into the streets,” she said.

    The campaign season ended on a tragic note Wednesday when a gunman shot dead an aspiring mayor in the southern state of Guerrero.

    The attack brought the number of local politicians who have been murdered to at least 24 during what has been a particularly violent electoral process, according to official figures.

    Some non-governmental organizations have reported an even higher toll, including Data Civica, which has counted around 30 killings.

    Sheinbaum has pledged to continue outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s controversial “hugs not bullets” strategy of tackling crime at its roots.

    Galvez, meanwhile, promised a tougher approach to cartel-related violence.

    “You will have the bravest president, a president who does confront crime,” the outspoken senator and businesswoman with Indigenous roots told her closing rally in the northern city of Monterrey.

    She accused Lopez Obrador of implementing “a security strategy where hugs have been for criminals and bullets for citizens.”

    Sheinbaum owes much of her popularity to Lopez Obrador, a close ally who has an approval rating of more than 60 percent but is only allowed to serve one term.

    It is almost a year since the contest for the ruling party nomination got underway, with Sheinbaum crisscrossing the country to meet supporters.

    The ruling party candidate had the backing of 53 percent of voters as campaigning drew to a close, according to a poll average compiled by research firm Oraculus.

    Galvez, who lashed out at her main rival in a series of televised presidential debates, calling her an “ice lady” and “narco-candidate,” was second with 36 percent.

    The only man running, 38-year-old centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez, had just 11 percent.

    Tackling the cartel violence that makes murder and kidnapping a daily occurrence in Mexico will be among the major challenges facing the next leader, along with managing migration and delicate relations with the neighboring United States.

    More than 450,000 people have been murdered and tens of thousands have gone missing since the government deployed the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006.

    While Mexican women enjoy growing success in politics and business, gender violence remains a major problem in a country where around 10 women are murdered every day.

    And while millions of Mexicans have escaped poverty in recent years, more than a third still live below the poverty line, according to official figures.

    As well as voting for a new president, Mexicans will choose members of Congress, several state governors and myriad local officials. In total, more than 20,000 positions are being contested.

  • Pakistan farmers pin poor mango crop on climate change

    Pakistan farmers pin poor mango crop on climate change

    Pakistan’s mangoes are normally a source of national pride and much-needed income, but farmers are blaming climate change for the parasites and extreme weather ruining much of this season’s crop.

    A white and orange scarf wrapped around his head in the scorching heat, farmer Muhammad Yusuf lamented the erratic weather.

    An abnormally long winter was followed by the wettest April in decades, while the country is now experiencing a heatwave with temperatures hitting up to 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit).

    “Buds didn’t flower on time, many buds just died. Those that started growing were infected with (parasite) black hopper,” said Yusuf, who has worked half his life growing mangoes.

    Now over 60 years old, Yusuf said “climate change has wreaked havoc” in his village of Tando Allahyar, around 200 kilometres (124 miles) northeast of economic hub Karachi.

    Pakistan is the world’s fourth-largest mango producer and agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of its GDP.

    Further south in Tando Ghulam Ali, Arsalan, who manages a 900-acre mango orchard, noticed the damage as soon as the harvest started this week.

    “We have production losses of 15 to 20 percent, and the picking has only just started so this figure will surely increase,” said the 32-year-old.

    Exports will be slashed as a result warned Arsalan, who goes by one name.

    “The mangoes turn yellow from the outside but remain underripe or overripe inside,” he explained.

    Ziaul Haq, a mango grower and exporter from Tando Ghulam Ali, said the “many attacks on fruit” by pests were unprecedented.

    “This, in our history, has never happened before,” he told AFP.

    ‘Feed our families’

    The proliferation of parasites has led to an explosion in spending on pesticides.

    This uptick was confirmed by several farmers in Sindh province, where Tando Allahyar and Tando Ghulam Ali are located, as well as those in the leading agricultural province of Punjab further north.

    They told AFP that chemicals are now used six to seven times per year, compared to just twice three years ago.

    Farmers in Sindh said they have been struggling since 2022 when a series of severe heatwaves were followed by unprecedented flooding, while those in Punjab said the declining crops yields date back several years more.

    “The losses in Punjab reached 35 to 50 percent and in Sindh, 15 to 20 percent” compared to last year, said Waheed Ahmed, head of the Pakistan Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association (PFVA).

    Speaking to local media, he said that last year Pakistan had only managed to export 100,000 of the 125,000 tonnes of mangoes it planned to sell abroad.

    Pakistan’s 20 varieties of mangoes come second only to oranges as the most-produced fruit in the country.

    The income loss from a poor harvest could have a significant impact on the country, which is in talks to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    Mashooq Ali, a 30-year-old labourer in Tando Ghulam Ali, wants the government to help farmers cope.

    “Landowners will earn less this year,” said Ali, whose wife has started trading clothes to earn extra cash.

    “And even if they paid us as much as last year, with inflation, we won’t be able to feed our families.”

    srq/rsc/lb

    © Agence France-Presse

  • One dead after falling into jet engine at Schiphol

    A person died Wednesday after falling into the spinning turbine blades of a departing passenger jet at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, officials said.

    The death occurred on the apron outside the busy hub’s terminal as a KLM flight was ready to depart for Billund in Denmark.

    “An… incident took place at Schiphol today during which a person ended up in a running aircraft engine,” Dutch flagship carrier KLM said in a statement.

    “Sadly the person has died,” KLM said, without disclosing the victim’s identity.

    Dutch border police, who are responsible for security at the Netherlands’ largest airport, said passengers were removed from the plane and an investigation was opened.

    The plane involved is a short-haul Embraer jet, used by KLM’s Cityhopper service which operates flights to other nearby destinations like London, Dutch news reports said.

    A picture posted on the NOS public broadcaster showed the plane surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances next to the departure terminals.

    Safety and security measures are strict at Schiphol and accidents are rare at the busy airport, which handled around 5.5 million passengers last month alone, according to airport figures.

  • Pakistan bus crash kills at least 27 people: hospital

    Pakistan bus crash kills at least 27 people: hospital

    Quetta, Pakistan – At least 27 people were killed on Wednesday when a bus plunged off the road into a deep ravine in southwestern Pakistan, hospital and government officials said.

    The crash happened around dawn in Basima town in Balochistan province while the bus was travelling from Turbat city to Quetta.

    “The driver was navigating a turn in a mountainous area when the vehicle lost control and fell into a ravine,” Ismail Mengal, a local government official said, giving a toll of 27 dead.

    “We are still investigating the cause of the incident. It could be that the driver fell asleep or was speeding, which led to the accident.”

    More than 25 others, including the driver, were injured.

    Noor Ullah, chief doctor at Civil Hospital Basima, told AFP that 27 bodies were taken there, including three women and two children.

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has “expressed deep sorrow and grief over the tragic traffic accident”, his office said in a statement.

    Road accidents with high fatalities are common in Pakistan, where safety measures are lax, driver training is poor and transport infrastructure often decrepit.

    At least 17 pilgrims were killed and 41 injured in a crash in April as they travelled to a shrine in Balochistan’s Hub district.

    In January last year, 41 people were killed when their bus, which was also loaded with containers of flammable oil, careered off the road into a valley and burst into flames.

    mak-zz/ecl/pbt

    © Agence France-Presse

  • Indian capital records highest-ever temperature of 49.9 Celsius

    Indian capital records highest-ever temperature of 49.9 Celsius

    New Delhi (AFP) – Temperatures in India’s capital have soared to a record-high 49.9 degrees Celsius (121.8 Fahrenheit) as authorities warn of water shortages in the sprawling mega-city.

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which reported “severe heat-wave conditions”, recorded the temperatures on Tuesday at two Delhi suburbs stations at Narela and Mungeshpur.

    The weather bureau said the temperatures were nine degrees higher than expected.

    Forecasters predict similar temperatures Wednesday for the city of more than 30 million people, issuing a red alert warning notice for people to take care.

    In May 2022, parts of Delhi hit 49.2 degrees Celsius (120.5 Fahrenheit), Indian media reported at the time.

    India is no stranger to searing summer temperatures.

    But years of scientific research have found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

    ‘Water scarcity’

    New Delhi authorities have also warned of the risk of water shortages as the capital swelters in headache-inducing heat — cutting supplies to some areas.

    Water Minister Atishi Marlena has called for “collective responsibility” in stopping wasteful water use, the Times of India newspaper reported Wednesday.

    “To address the problem of water scarcity, we have taken a slew of measures such as reducing water supply from twice a day to once a day in many areas,” Atishi said, the Indian Express reported.

    “The water thus saved will be rationed and supplied to the water-deficient areas where supply lasts only 15 to 20 minutes a day,” she added.

    The IMD warned of the heat’s impact on health, especially for infants, the elderly and those with chronic diseases.

    Many blame the soaring temperatures on scorching winds from Rajasthan state, where temperatures on Tuesday were the hottest in the country, at 50.5 degrees Celsius.

    Rajasthan’s desert region of Phalodi holds the country’s all-time heat record, hitting 51 degrees Celsius in 2016.

    At the same time, West Bengal state and the northeastern state of Mizoram have been struck by gales and lashing rains from Cyclone Remal, which hit India and Bangladesh on Sunday, killing more than 38 people.

    Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department said the cyclone was “one of longest in the country’s history”, blaming climate change for the shift.

  • Pakistan’s Sufi festivals reclaim spirit after violence

    Pakistan’s Sufi festivals reclaim spirit after violence

    Shah Jiwana (Pakistan) (AFP) – Rhythmic drums and spirited dancing are once again bringing life to the shrines of Pakistan’s saints, where festivals were long stifled by jihadist violence.

    As the harvest season ends and schools finish for the summer, villagers climb atop tractor trolleys, buses and rickshaws to head to the annual celebrations at Sufi shrines dotted across the country.

    “Those who cannot meet during the rest of the year reunite at the fair,” said Muhammad Nawaz, a farmer from Punjab province at the annual “mela” to honour saint Shah Jiwana in Jhang city in May.

    “These fairs and Punjab’s culture share a profound connection, one of love and brotherhood.”

    Fairgrounds, musicians, traditional wrestlers and motorcycle acrobats delight pilgrims lit by lanterns of all colours — but always under the watchful eye of hundreds of police officers.

    Centuries-old Sufi orders across the Islamic world have millions of followers, from Turkey to South Asia, and their beliefs are rooted in mysticism and a devotion to saints.

    Many orthodox hardliners consider Sufi beliefs heretical, however, and Sunni militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic State have carried out bloody attacks at shrines and festivals.

    In Pakistan, the attacks led authorities to ban festivals or limit their activities until recently.

    “The goal was to avoid risking public lives,” said Alloudin Mehmood, a government official at Bari Imam shrine in Islamabad, targeted by a 2005 suicide bombing that killed 19 people.

    Security has dramatically improved after several military operations, allowing celebrations to slowly return.

    “Only after receiving security clearance was the festival permitted last year, ending a 16-year hiatus,” Mehmood added.

    The event was shortened from five days to three, with mobile phone signals suspended for security reasons.

    ‘Culture is resilient’

    The landscape of rural Pakistan is adorned with thousands of Sufi shrines, varying in size from grand edifices to modest structures, each steeped in a tapestry of associated legends.

    Particularly in Punjab and Sindh, saints, commonly referred to as “Pirs,” are revered and miracles attributed to their spiritual presence.

    “These shrines have endured threats and persecution,” said anthropologist and author Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro.

    “Culture always has a remarkable resilience, capable of absorbing shocks and persevering through challenging times.”

    The annual celebrations commemorate the anniversaries of a saint’s death and symbolise the spiritual union between devotees and the divine.

    “Pilgrims find solace, healing, release and entertainment at these events that celebrate the ‘friends of God’,” said Carl W. Ernst, who has authored several books on Sufism.

    Sufism has inspired some of Pakistan’s most beloved artists, writers and musicians.

    Sufi shrines often attract marginalised groups, including transgender women and drug addicts.

    “We are never as well-received as at festivals,” Khusbhoo, a transgender woman, told AFP.

    Come to the fair

    At the Shah Jiwana shrine, devotion gives way to entertainment in the late afternoon.

    A juice seller belts out a famous Punjabi song: “Forget about your responsibilities for a while; let’s head to the fair instead.”

    Thousands turn to the fields to witness traditional games such as Kabaddi, a rough contact sport where opponents slap each other around the face, and tent pegging, a more graceful display of horsemanship.

    Against the neon background of the fairgrounds, 16-year-old stunt girl Fatima Noor prepares her motorbike.

    Defying both gravity and social taboos, she circles the “wall of death” to the amazement of the crowd — a chance to earn some money for her family.

    “These fairs must be held, because we do not have any other employment opportunities,” she said.

    Eighteen-year-old Hamid Ijaz delighted in the celebrations, disrupted for much of his childhood.

    “Because of how widespread hate and sectarianism are in our country, it’s crucial to organise events like these where people can come together and foster love,” he told AFP.

  • After Raisi’s funeral, Iran’s focus turns to vote for successor

    After Raisi’s funeral, Iran’s focus turns to vote for successor

    After Iran mourned President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a recent helicopter crash, the nation’s focus turns to an election next month for his successor, with the conservative camp seeking support from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    The lead-up to the early vote on June 28 has opened up the field to a broad range of hopefuls from all political parties. The big question for them is how many candidacies will survive the vetting process in the Islamic republic.

    President Raisi, who had more than a year left of his first term, died on May 19 alongside his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others when their helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside.

    They were laid to rest in multi-day funeral rites drawing mass crowds of mourners.

    Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf (R) greets lawmakers during the inauguration session for the new Parliament in Tehran on May 27, 2024. — AFP

    The June vote will be held during a turbulent time, as the Gaza war rages between Israel and Hamas, and amid continued diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.

    Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, has assigned Raisi’s vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, 68, to assume interim duties for the next few weeks and organise the June election.

    Among other hopefuls, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was one of the first to announce his candidacy.

    Other contenders include moderate former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and centrist Ali Larijani, who served as the speaker in parliament.

    Ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has so far kept voters guessing and said he is “checking the conditions to decide whether to register”.

    Under Iran’s election process, candidates will have several days to formally register, starting on May 30.

    The final list, however, will depend on the outcome of the validation process by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council following a June 3 registration deadline.