Iran's presidential election to face second vote after low turnout

Iran will hold a run-off election after reformist-backed Massoud Pezeshkian and hardliner Saeed Jalili failed to secure a majority in the presidential race

Iran will hold a run-off presidential vote between reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and hardline Saeed Jalili, as results showed the lowest-ever poll turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.

Iranian law requires that a winner gets more than 50% of all votes cast. If not, the race’s top two candidates advance to a runoff a week later.

Former nuclear negotiator Jalili was trailing cardiac surgeon Pezeshkian, but both were around the 40% mark.

Of the 24.5 million votes cast in Friday's election, Pezeshkian got 10.4 million while Jalili received 9.4 million, election spokesman Mohsen Eslami announced.

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf got 3.3 million, while Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had over 206,000 votes.

A run-off election date has been set for July 5.

More than 1 million votes were voided, according to the results, typically a sign of people feeling obligated to cast a ballot but not wanting to select any of the candidates.

The overall turnout was 39.9%, according to the results.

There’s been only one other runoff presidential election in Iran’s history: in 2005, when hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bested former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

As has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from running, while the vote itself will have no oversight from internationally recognised monitors.

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