Tehran: Hadi Tahan Nazih, spokesman for Iran’s Constitutional Council, said some 59,000 polling stations had been set up across more than 95 provinces for the country’s 14th presidential election, scheduled for Friday.
He made the remarks at a press conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Thursday while discussing the upcoming elections and details of the voting process.
Nazif stressed that the completion of the entire preparation process for the general elections in nearly 40 days following the “tragic” death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19 demonstrates the “strength and power” of the country’s Islamic regime.
He said election observers, including the Constitutional Council, would be present at all polling stations both domestically and internationally to monitor voting procedures in accordance with the law.
He stressed that Iran’s Interior Ministry will be the official channel for announcing the election results and advised candidates and their supporters to refrain from making hasty speculations following the voting process.
Iran’s 14th presidential election was originally scheduled for 2025, but was rescheduled following Raisi’s unexpected death.
Initially, six candidates were eligible to run: current Vice President Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakhani, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former Interior and Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, and former Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian.
However, the fundamentalist candidates Hashemi and Zakhani withdrew from the election in favour of fellow fundamentalist candidates Qalibaf and Jalili.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said more than 61 million Iranians would be eligible to vote on Friday.
This post was last updated on June 28, 2024 at 8:14 am
