The Iranian Interior Ministry has released the final list of candidates qualified to run in the forthcoming presidential election.

Iran’s Guardian Council gave the following whittled-down list of candidates, in alphabetical order, to the Interior Ministry late on Thursday night.

• Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim
• Mostafa Hashemi-Taba
• Es'haq Jahangiri
• Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf
• Hassan Rouhani
• Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi

The vetting body was examining the qualifications of more than 1,600 candidates who registered to run for president for days.

We held the final session on examining the qualifications of the presidential election nominees today and fortunately reached a conclusion after five days of numerous sessions,” the council's spokesman, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, said before releasing the final list.

The qualified candidates can now start election campaigning until 8 a.m. May 18, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

                           An Iranian woman casts her vote at a ballot box. (Photo by IRNA)

Iran will simultaneously hold the 12th presidential election and the 5th City and Village Councils Elections on May 19.

Observers predict a high turnout in the election in which voters will pick the next president for a four-year term.

The five-day registration process for the presidential election ended on Saturday and the Guardian Council started vetting presidential election hopefuls the following day.

Earlier this week, the commander of the Special Units of the Iranian Police Force said that 20,000 police officers would be deployed across the country to ensure security for the votes.