Ali Khamenei: Encyclopedia II - Ali Khamenei - Presidency

Ali Khamenei - Presidency

Iran

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Iran

Supreme Leader: Ali Khamenei
President: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Assembly of Experts
Guardian Council
Majlis
City and Village Councils
Expediency Council
Political parties
Elections

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In 1981, after the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, Ayatollah Khamenei was elected President of Iran by a landslide vote in the Iranian presidential election, October 1981 and became the first cleric to serve in the office. Ayatollah Khomeini had originally wanted to keep clerics out of the presidency, but this view was compromised. Many saw Khamenei's presidency as a sign that Iran was abandoning secularism policy, and becoming more religious.

Of the total 16,841,800 total votes, the following numbers were won by each candidate:

He was re-elected to a second term in 1985. As a close ally of Khomeini, his term in office rarely clashed with the Supreme Leader, unlike Iran's first president, Abolhassan Banisadr. When Khomeini died, Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on June 4, 1989. Since Khamenei was originally not considered to be as high-ranking a cleric as needed to assume the office, and the new amendment to the constitution that allowed a cleric of his then status to be elected as the Supreme Leader had not been put to a referendum yet, the Assembly internally titled him a temporary office holder until the new constitution became effective.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Presidency", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki