Hardliners have a narrow lead in Iran’s election

Hard-line candidate Saeed Jalili and reformist Massoud Pezeshkian are competing in Iran’s presidential election.

Both candidates are on around 40% of the vote with more than 8 million votes counted, with each surpassing the other in recent hours.

The election will enter a second round – scheduled for next Friday – if neither Mr Jalili nor Mr Pezeshkian win 50% of the vote.

Two security forces members were killed after unidentified gunmen attacked a vehicle carrying election boxes in Sistan-Baluchestan province, state media reported.

Mr Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon and health minister, has promised a different approach, citing the actions of the morality police, who enforce strict dress codes for women. , is “immoral”.

The vote is aimed at replacing former president Ebrahim Raisi, who died on May 19 when the helicopter carrying him crashed into a mountain, with seven other people also killed.

Although there are 61.5 million eligible voters in Iran, turnout is expected to be low in this election. The rate hit record lows in March’s congressional elections and the most recent presidential election in 2021.

Earlier unofficial estimates put turnout at just under 40% of those eligible to vote – a figure that, if confirmed, would represent the lowest turnout in a presidential race in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority in the country, has called for “maximum” voter turnout.

Iran was rocked by a massive wave of protests in 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.

Human rights groups say hundreds have been killed in the crackdown and thousands have been detained.