Mohsen Mehralizadeh

Mohsen Mehralizadeh
Head of Physical Education Organization
In office 25 August 2001 – 25 August 2005
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mostafa Hashemitaba
Succeeded by	Mohammad Aliabadi
Governor of Khorasan
In office 21 August 1997 – 20 August 2001
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Abdollah Kupaei
Succeeded by	Hassan Rasouli
Personal details
Born	(1956-09-30) September 30, 1956 Maragheh, East Azerbaijan, Iran
Political party	Reformists
Alma mater	Harvard University

Mohsen Mehralizadeh (محسن مهرعلیزاده; born September 30, 1956) was a Vice President of Iran and the head of the National Sports Organization of Iran under President Khatami. He is an ethnic Azerbaijani.

Mehralizadeh was the governor of the Khorasan in Khatami's first term of presidency.

Presidential candidature

During the campaign for 2005 presidential election, Mehralizadeh announced his ambition for presidentcy on December 29 and said he was the candidate for the younger generation. He received some support from Majlis representatives of Guilan, Azerbaijan and Khorasan. On May 22, 2005, the Guardian Council rejected Mehralizadeh and Mostafa Moeen's candidacy, but the next day they approved both reformist candidates after the controversial letter of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, who specifically asked for their approval.

Mehralizadeh ranked last in the seven candidates running on June 17, 2005, securing about 1,300,000 votes (4.40%), a record number and percentage for a last finishing presidential candidate in Iran. He ranked first in the all of the three provinces of the Iranian Azerbaijan.