Voting for the second round of presidential elections has begins in Iran
Voting for the election between reformist Masoud Pezhekian and establishment backer Saeed Jalili to succeed Ibrahim Raisi, who passed away in an Iranian helicopter crash in May, reportedly started on Friday, according to the Ministry of the Interior in Iran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, cast his vote when voting opened at 8:00 a.m. local time, according to state television.
Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi told state TV, ‘We have started voting for the second phase of the 14th presidential election since Friday morning. The election will select the future president from two candidates in 58 thousand 638 polling stations in the country and in all polling stations abroad.
The vote is being held against the background of heightened regional tensions over the ongoing war in Gaza, Iran’s dispute with the West over Iran’s nuclear program and public dissatisfaction with the state of the embargoed economy.
Iran’s Election Commission reports that Pezheshkian, the lone reformist contender, got the most votes (42 percent) in the first round of voting held last week. Former nuclear negotiator Jalili received almost 39% of the vote to finish in second place. According to the constitution of Iran, in the event that no candidate gets 50% of the votes, there is a provision to hold an election between the two main contenders.
Only 40 percent of the 61 million Iranian voters voted in the last election. This is the lowest turnout in any presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei said participation in the first phase was “not as expected” but that it was not “an act against the system”.
In last week’s vote, Conservative Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf came third with 13.8 percent of the vote, while Maulvi Mustafa Pourmohammadi got less than one percent.
Iran’s presidential election was scheduled for 2025, but the election was postponed after the death of ultra-conservative President Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
Two debates were held over Iran’s economic issues, ties with other countries, low turnout, and internet bans.
Pezheskian, a 69-year-old cardiologist who has been representing the northwestern city of Tabriz since 2008, has been in parliament since 2008.
He has the support of Iran’s main reformist coalition. Former reformist presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani have backed his campaign.
Jalili, a 58-year-old candidate, has amassed a sizable following of ardent fans. Ghalibaf and two other extreme conservative candidates support him. In the opening round of the competition, they were eliminated.
