Iran's next president to be elected in runoff between Masoud Pezeshkian, Saeed Jalili

Tehran: The final result of Iran's 14th presidential election will be decided in a runoff between top contenders Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili on July 5, said Spokesman of Iran's Election Headquarters Mohsen Eslami.

Announcing the first round's results at a press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday, Eslami said Pezeshkian and Jalili garnered 10,415,991 (42.6 per cent) and 9,473,298 (38.8 per cent) votes respectively.

The two candidates will now face a runoff to determine who will assume the country's top executive position, Xinhua news agency reported.

Eslami added the other two candidates, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, collected 3,383,340 (13.8 per cent) and 206,397 (0.8 per cent) votes respectively.

He put the total number of votes at 24,535,185, noting that the turnout stood at 40 per cent.

The voting for the presidential election began at 8 a.m. Friday local time at 58,640 polling stations across the country and abroad, and lasted until midnight, after being extended three times, with each extension lasting for two hours.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cast the first ballot at a polling station and made a brief speech calling for the unity of the Iranian people during the election.

To secure the presidency, a candidate must obtain more than 50 per cent of the total votes in the first round. (IANS)

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