Tehran [Iran], Iran's snap presidential election is set for a second round next week after reformist-backed Masoud Pezeshkian and hardliner Saeed Jalili emerged victorious but failed to win a majority in a poll with record low participation, according to Al Jazeera.
According to the Interior Ministry, only 40 percent of the more than 61 million eligible Iranians voted, setting a new low in presidential elections since the country's 1979 revolution.
Final data from the ministry's election headquarters revealed that Pezeshkian won more than 10.41 million votes out of a total of more than 24.5 million tabulated ballots, trailing former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili by 9.47 million votes. Presidential elections have been held for only the second time since the 1979 revolution, Al Jazeera reported.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the conservative speaker of parliament, got 3.38 million votes, and conservative Islamic leader Mostafa Pourmohammadi got 206,397 votes, eliminating him from the race. Two other candidates, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and government official Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, dropped out of the race.
Meanwhile, Ghalibaf, Zakani and Ghazizadeh asked their followers to vote for Jalili in the second round next Friday to ensure the victory of the "revolutionary front."
Friday's snap election came within the 50-day legal deadline to select a new president after Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, died in a helicopter crash on May 19.
Friday's vote saw low turnout, as has been the case in all key elections over the past four years, but the final figure was well below the 45-53 percent predicted by polls. Raisi was elected with the lowest presidential turnout in Iran's more than four-decade history, at 48.8 percent, Al Jazeera reported.
The parliamentary elections in March and May had the lowest turnout of any major election since the 1979 Iranian revolution, at just under 41 percent.
Jalili, a senior member of the Supreme National Security Council, has pledged to reduce inflation to single digits and improve economic growth to an impressive 8 percent, while combating corruption and incompetence. He recommends taking a stronger stance against the West and its supporters.
Pezeshkian was the only moderate among the six people authorized to run by the Guardian Council, the constitutional authority that vets all candidates. His supporters have portrayed him not as a miracle worker, but as a potential president who could make things a little better, while maintaining that a Jalili victory would mean a major setback.
However, it is important to note that Jalili's name is associated with years-long nuclear discussions in the late 2000s and early 2010s, which ultimately led to Iran's isolation on the global stage.
According to the Interior Ministry, only 40 percent of the more than 61 million eligible Iranians voted, setting a new low in presidential elections since the country's 1979 revolution.
Final data from the ministry's election headquarters revealed that Pezeshkian won more than 10.41 million votes out of a total of more than 24.5 million tabulated ballots, trailing former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili by 9.47 million votes. Presidential elections have been held for only the second time since the 1979 revolution, Al Jazeera reported.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the conservative speaker of parliament, got 3.38 million votes, and conservative Islamic leader Mostafa Pourmohammadi got 206,397 votes, eliminating him from the race. Two other candidates, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and government official Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, dropped out of the race.
Meanwhile, Ghalibaf, Zakani and Ghazizadeh asked their followers to vote for Jalili in the second round next Friday to ensure the victory of the "revolutionary front."
Friday's snap election came within the 50-day legal deadline to select a new president after Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, died in a helicopter crash on May 19.
Friday's vote saw low turnout, as has been the case in all key elections over the past four years, but the final figure was well below the 45-53 percent predicted by polls. Raisi was elected with the lowest presidential turnout in Iran's more than four-decade history, at 48.8 percent, Al Jazeera reported.
The parliamentary elections in March and May had the lowest turnout of any major election since the 1979 Iranian revolution, at just under 41 percent.
Jalili, a senior member of the Supreme National Security Council, has pledged to reduce inflation to single digits and improve economic growth to an impressive 8 percent, while combating corruption and incompetence. He recommends taking a stronger stance against the West and its supporters.
Pezeshkian was the only moderate among the six people authorized to run by the Guardian Council, the constitutional authority that vets all candidates. His supporters have portrayed him not as a miracle worker, but as a potential president who could make things a little better, while maintaining that a Jalili victory would mean a major setback.
However, it is important to note that Jalili's name is associated with years-long nuclear discussions in the late 2000s and early 2010s, which ultimately led to Iran's isolation on the global stage.
