A statement by the Interior Ministry said that candidates had until October 22 to register to stand in the elections.
Polling was last conducted in February 2003. This year the elections will coincide with the Assembly of Experts (AE) elections.
The enrolment period for the AE polls has already expired. A total of 495 religious figures registered to stand in the polls. The 86-member assembly is an exclusively clerical body entrusted with the task of selecting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution. Prominent names in the list of candidates are former President and current State Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Guardian Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, former chief nuclear negotiator with the West Hassan Rowhani, and radical Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi.
