Ayatollah Khamenei Elected President

December, 31, 1981 A.D.:
Ayatollah Khamenei Elected President

By: Mir M.Hosseini

3d presidential election: Of 46 nominees for the presidential race, only 4 were qualified. Of 22,687,017 Iranians eligible to vote 16,737,320 people participated in the election marking a %73.8 participation rate. Mr. Khamenei leaded the election with %95.04 of the votes. He assigned Mr. Mousavi as his prime minister and half of his cabinet were those of martyr Rajayi's.
Mr. Ali Khamenei was born in Mashhad in 1939 and became a cleric. In 1957 he went to Najaf to continue his studies in religion. He was politically active during the Pahlavi 2 reign and was sent to exile several times. He was the mastermind behind the Fighting Clerics Society and was sent to prison 6 times before the revolution. He was seriously injured in a terrorist attack on June, 27, 1981 when a bomb went off in Abazar mosque.