Pezeshkian vs Jalili: Iran presidential election goes to runoff

TEHRAN – Iran will hold a runoff presidential election next week as all the four candidates failed to secure outright victory in the polls.

Top two candidates – reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili – will face off each other in the second round on coming Friday. The announcement in this regard was made by the Iran interior minister.

Earlier, an election spokesperson announced the results of the first round in a press conference, stating that total 24.5 million votes were cast on June 28.  

Pezeshkian secured 10.4 million while Jalili is runner up with 9.4 million votes. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is at the third position with 3.3 million while Mostafa Pourmohammadi got over 206,000 votes.

Iran law states that if no candidate secures more than 50% of the votes, a second round will be held.

The winning candidate will replace late President Ebrahim Raisi, who lost his life in a helicopter crash last month.