TEHRAN: Iran will conduct a runoff presidential election following an initial vote saw the top candidates not securing an outright victory, the spokesperson for the election headquarters announces.
Interior ministry spokesman Mohsen Eslami said that none of the candidates could take the absolute majority of the votes, therefore, the first and second candidates who got the most votes will be referred to the Guardian Council” for the 2nd round scheduled for July 5.
He announced the result on Saturday in a press conference carried by the country’s official TV following the count of more than 24.5 million votes. The spokesperson said of 24.5 million votes cast, ex-minister for health Masoud Pezeshkian got 10.4 million while former lead nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili received 9.4 million votes.
The other two Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and ex- Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi – trailed behind at 3.3 million and over 397,000 respectively. The second round is needed if no candidate wins fifty percent of the vote, plus one.
Eslami has so far given around nine updates on the results, the first of which came at 3:25 am local time.
The latest update at around 11:37 a.m. local time suggested Pezeshkian holding his lead with 10,415,991 votes (42.45%) out of 24,535,185 votes counted so far. Jalili edged closer with 9,473,298 votes (38.61%).
Earlier, the preliminary results in Iran’s presidential election put Saeed Jalili former lead nuclear negotiator slightly ahead Saturday, followed closely behind by Masoud Pezeshkian.
Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for the country’s election headquarters has announced the results, counted across 27,938 polling stations out of 58,000 today. According to Press TV, Jalili took 4,266,386 votes, and Pezeshkian collected 4,244,815 votes during the elections. The polls closed at midnight local time on Saturday, concluding a 16-hour-long voting process.
Earlier, the Iranian Interior Ministry has extended the time of the 14th presidential election voting for two more hours across the country. Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time and supposed to close at 6:00 p.m.
The spokesperson for Iran’s election headquarters Mohsen Eslami said that the time for voting has been extended for two hours.
Polls in Iran opened Friday for a presidential election after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, local media reported.
If no candidate wins 50 % of the vote, a second round will be held on July 5, for only the second time in the country’s electoral history following the 2005 vote went to a runoff.
About 61 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the elections where reformist Masoud Pezeshkian hopes for a breakthrough win against a conservative camp. The Guardian Council, which vets candidates, permitted him to run against a field of conservatives now dominated by former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Also left in contention is Mostafa Pourmohammadi after two dropped out — Tehran major Alireza Zakani and Raisi’s former vice president Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a televised address that they start the elections for Iran’s 14th presidential ballot.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also cast his ballot and urged people to vote. “Election day is a day of happiness for Iranians,” he said. He added that they encourage their dear people to take the issue of voting seriously and participate. The election in Iran comes at a time of high regional tensions as the Gaza war rages on.
Meanwhile, the Spokesman of Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani has slammed the United States for its stance on Iran’s presidential elections.
Kanaani on Friday condemned US interference in its internal affairs, after the US Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley had said that the Election is not expected to change ‘Iran’s direction’.
The spokesperson said these statements amount to exaggeration and an obvious interference in internal affairs of Iran, adding that we condemn it.
He added the US authorities will not stop from such worthless statements and the Iranian people will respond to such statements with their strong turnout in presidential election.
