Image source, Shutterstock
- Author, Tom Bennett
- Role, BBC News
Voters will elect a new Iranian president on Friday as a hard-line conservative faces off against a reformist.
The runoff comes after no candidate won a majority in the first round of the June 28 election, which saw a historically low turnout of 40%.
One of them, Dr Massoud Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon, is critical of Iran’s notorious morality police – but his rival Saeed Jalili is in favour of the status quo.
The elections were called after former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May, killing seven others.
Dr Pezeshkian created an uproar after promising “unity and cohesion” and an end to Iran’s “isolation” from the world.
He called for “constructive negotiations” with Western powers on a renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal, in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions.
Mr. Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who enjoys strong support among Iran’s most religious communities, is known for his hardline anti-Western stance and opposition to reinstating the nuclear deal, which he says crosses Iran’s “red lines.”
To run, both candidates had to go through a selection process conducted by the Guardian Council, a body made up of 12 clerics and jurists who hold significant power in Iran.
This process resulted in the elimination of 74 other candidates, including several women.
The Guardian Council has previously been criticized by human rights groups for disqualifying candidates who were not sufficiently loyal to the regime.
After years of civil unrest – culminating in the anti-regime protests that rocked the country in 2022-23 – many young and middle-class Iranians are deeply distrustful of the establishment and have so far refused to vote.
With turnout in the first round at its lowest level since the 1979 Iranian revolution, voter apathy could be a deciding factor in the runoff.
On Iranian social media, the Persian hashtag “traitor minority” went viral, urging people not to vote for any of the candidates and labeling anyone who did so as a “traitor.”
But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected suggestions that the low turnout represented a rejection of his rule.
“There are reasons [behind the low turnout] “Politicians and sociologists will look at them, but if anyone thinks that those who didn’t vote are against the establishment, they are clearly wrong,” he said.
In a rare move, he acknowledged that some Iranians do not accept the current regime. “We listen to them and we know what they are saying, it is not as if they are hidden and invisible,” Mr Khamenei said.
In Iran, local media encouraged people to vote.
The reformist daily Sazandegi said that “the future is linked to your votes” while the Hammihan newspaper declared that “now it is your turn”.
The Hamshahri daily, run by Tehran’s municipality, published an article titled “100 reasons to vote,” while the Jaam-e Jam daily, run by state television, said Iran was “waiting for the people.”
Preliminary election results are expected to be released Saturday morning.
