Early count in Iran presidential race points to runoff
Published in Political News
The latest vote count in Iran’s snap presidential election shows the only reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, taking a slight lead in the race, Iranian state TV reported.
Pezeshkian has approximately 1,595,345 votes so far, narrowly ahead of his hard line opponent, Saeed Jalili, who so far has 1,594,868 votes — a margin of just 477 votes.
Separately, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said an unofficial count so far shows the election is likely to run into a second round between Pezeshkian and Jalili, amid projections of record-low participation.
Pezeshkian has secured 42.2% of all ballots, compared to Jalili’s 38%, Tasnim reported, without specifying the source of the figures.
The semi-official Mehr news agency also projected that none of the candidates is likely to secure 50% of the votes, the threshold required to win the election outright, and a runoff will be held on July 5.
Tasnim also projected the overall turnout at about 40%, the lowest on record since presidential elections started in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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