Leader Casts Vote in Iran’s Runoff Presidential Election

Ayatollah Khamenei voted at the Imam Khomeini Husseiniya of Tehran as soon as the polls opened at 8 am local time, with Iranian and foreign journalists and photographers present at the site of the voting.

In comments after casting his ballot, Ayatollah Khamenei described the election day as a good day that manifests the presence of people.

He also described it as the day of participation of people in an “important political process”.

The Leader said the enthusiasm of people for election has reportedly grown in comparison with the last week’s polls.

Expressing hope that people would elect the best candidate, the Leader said Iranians need to make a greater deal of effort at this stage to finish the task, so that the president of Iran will be known tomorrow.

Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, the two candidates with the highest number of votes, are facing off in the showdown.

A total of 24,535,185 votes were cast in the last week’s polls, translating into a turnout of 39.92%, as over 61,452,000 people were eligible to vote.

Around 59,000 polling stations are set up across the country, including thousands of mobile stations.

Hundreds of polling stations have been also set up in the foreign countries to enable the Iranian expatriates to take part in the election.

The new administration, the 14th one after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, will hold office for four years.

The election takes place a year ahead of schedule, as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi passed away in May.

A helicopter carrying President Raisi and his entourage crashed in northwestern mountainous forests on May 19, killing the president, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six others.