Iran to hold run-off election between reformist Pezeshkian and hard-liner Jalili

Seesawing results released early Saturday in Iran’s presidential election put the race between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili.

Iran will hold a run-off presidential election on Friday, July 5, after an initial vote saw reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili each fall short of securing an outright win in an election with the lowest turnout ever held in the Islamic Republic.

Iranian state television reported the results that triggered a second round of voting, with the two candidates neck-and-neck in the race to replace the hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

After counting over 24.5 million votes, Pezeshkian had 10.41 million while Jalili held 9.47 million.

The historically low turnout of 39.96 percent is itself a gauge of the Iranian electorates' waning support of its Shiite theocracy after years of economic turmoil and mass protests.

Another candidate, hard-line parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, had some 3.38 million votes. Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had just over 206,000 votes.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-vote-results-run-off-reformist-hard-liner-rcna159579

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