Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian leads hard-liner Saeed Jalili in Iran presidential runoff election

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian’s lead over hard-liner Saeed Jalili has widened to over 2 million votes as counting continues in Iran’s presidential runoff election

Jon Gambrell,Amir Vahdat
Friday 05 July 2024 21:43 EDT

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian's lead against hard-liner Saeed Jalili widened early Saturday to over 2 million votes as counting continued in Iran's presidential runoff election.

Mohsen Eslami, an election spokesperson, said Pezeshkian had 11.1 million votes, leading Jalili’s 9 million. He gave no total turnout figure as counting went on.

The first round of voting June 28 saw the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian officials have long pointed to turnout as a sign of support for the country's Shiite theocracy, which has been under strain after years of sanctions crushing Iran's economy, mass demonstrations and intense crackdowns on all dissent.

Government officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted a higher participation rate as voting got underway, with state television airing images of modest lines at some polling centers across the country.

However, online videos purported to show some polls empty while a survey of several dozen sites in the capital, Tehran, saw light traffic amid a heavy security presence on the streets.

___

Vahdat reported from Tehran, Iran. Nasser Karimi contributed to this report.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in