Voting in Iran: Polls open at 8am local time (04:30 GMT) and close at 6pm (14:30 GMT).
Tehran:
Iranians will vote for a new president on Friday following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader at a time of growing public frustration.
Although the elections are unlikely to bring about a major change in the Islamic Republic’s policies, the result could influence the succession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, who has been in power for three and a half decades.
Khamenei called for “maximum” participation to offset a crisis of legitimacy fueled by public discontent over economic difficulties and restrictions on political and social freedoms.
Voter turnout has fallen sharply over the past four years, with a mostly young population angered by political and social restrictions.
Polls open at 8am local time (04:30 GMT) and close at 6pm (14:30 GMT), but are often extended until midnight. As votes are counted manually, the final result is expected to be announced within two days, although initial numbers may be released sooner.
If no candidate receives at least 50 percent plus one vote of all votes cast, including blank votes, a runoff between the top two candidates will be held on the first Friday after the election results are declared.
Three of the candidates are hardliners and one of them is relatively moderate, supported by the reformist faction that has been largely marginalized in Iran in recent years.
Critics of Iran’s clerical regime say the low and declining turnout in recent elections shows that the system’s legitimacy has eroded. Just 48% of voters participated in the 2021 elections that brought Raisi to power, and turnout hit a record low of 41% in parliamentary elections three months ago.
The elections now coincide with the escalation of regional tensions due to the war between Israel and its Iranian allies, Hamas, in Gaza, and Hezbollah, in Lebanon, as well as with the increase of Western pressure on Iran due to its nuclear program in rapid advancement.
The next president is not expected to produce any major policy changes in Iran’s nuclear program or support for militia groups across the Middle East, as Khamenei makes all decisions on top state matters. However, the president runs the government on a day-to-day basis and can influence the tone of Iran’s foreign and domestic policy.
A hardline watchdog made up of six clerics and six jurists aligned with Khamenei’s would-be veterans. It approved only six candidates from an initial group of 80. Later, two hard-line candidates withdrew.
Prominent among the remaining radicals are Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaker of parliament and former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who served for four years in Khamenei’s cabinet.
The only comparative moderate, Massoud Pezeshkian, is loyal to the country’s theocratic government, but advocates détente with the West, economic reform, social liberalization and political pluralism.
His chances depend on reviving the enthusiasm of reformist voters who have largely stayed away from the polls over the past four years after previous pragmatic presidents achieved little change. He could also benefit from his rivals’ failure to consolidate the hardline vote.
All four candidates have vowed to revive the flagging economy, which has been plagued by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018 after the US abandoned Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers.
The hashtag #ElectionCircus has been widely posted on social media platform X by Iranians in recent weeks, with some domestic and foreign activists calling for an election boycott, arguing that high turnout would legitimize the Islamic Republic.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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