DUBAI: Iranians voted on Friday for a run-off presidential election that will test the rulers' popularity. State TV said polling stations opened their doors to voters at 8 am local time (0430 GMT). Polling was to have ended at 6 pm (1430 GMT), but was extended until 8 pm in response to "requests from provinces across the country", an interior ministry spokesman told state TV.
It showed queues inside polling stations in several cities later in the day. The final result will be announced on Saturday, although initial figures may come out sooner. The run-off follows a June 28 ballot with historically low turnout, when over 60 per cent of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, following his death in a helicopter crash. The low participation is seen as a vote of no confidence in the Islamic Republic.
The vote is a tight race between lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, a staunch advocate of deepening ties with Russia and China.
While the election is expected to have little impact on the Islamic Republic's policies, the president will be closely involved in selecting the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's 85-year-old Supreme Leader who calls all the shots on top matters of state.
"I have heard that people's zeal and interest is higher than in the first round. May God make it this way as this will be gratifying news," Khamenei told state TV after casting his vote. Khamenei acknowledged on Wednesday "a lower than expected turnout" last week, but said "it is wrong to assume those who abstained in the first round are opposed to Islamic rule".
Only 48 per cent of voters participated in the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power, and turnout was 41 per cent in a parliamentary election in March. However, the interior ministry spokesman said early reports indicated "higher participation compared with the same hour in the first round of the election".
"Voting gives power ...even if there are criticisms, people should vote as each vote is like a missile launch (against enemies)," Iran's Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Commander Amirali Hajizadeh told state media.
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