Voting for presidential runoff commences in Iran

 July 5 (IANS) Voting for the Iran presidential runoff commenced on Friday morning, with two top contenders, Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, in the run. Pezeshkian, a reformist and Iran's former health minister, and Jalili, a principlist and the former chief negotiator in the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers, both have cast their votes in the capital city, accompanied by their supporters. Earlier, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, voted in the first minutes of the voting and stressed the need for a higher turnout, the official website of the leader said in a post on X. Iran went to polls on June 28, and the next day, Spokesman of Iran's Election Headquarters Mohsen Eslami announced the results for the first phase, in which Pezeshkian garnered 42.6 per cent of the total votes, while Jalili got 38.8 per cent. Despite leading the race, none of the candidates were able to cross the 50 per cent mark required to win the presidential race. However, in the second phase, whichever candidate will garner maximum votes will assume the power. Iran's 14th presidential election, which had initially been set for 2025, was rescheduled following the unexpected death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19.