A press conference was held at the ministry building after the results were counted. Photo / Getty Images
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Iran will hold a runoff election to select reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian to replace the late hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, officials said Saturday after the first round of voting saw the lowest voter turnout in Iran’s history.
According to election spokesman Mohsen Eslami in a government video conference, reformist Massoud Pezeshkian (10.4 million votes) beat Saeed Jalili (9.4 million), who ran alongside two other hardliners, but more than 60 percent of eligible voters did not vote.
Under Iranian law, a winner must receive at least 50 percent of the total votes; if not, the top two candidates advance to a runoff election a week later. Iran’s history has seen only one runoff presidential election, in 2005, when hardline candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
“Look at this as a protest – a very broad choice to reject what’s on offer, both the candidates and the system,” said Sanam Baqir, director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program. “It says a lot about public opinion, apathy and discontent. It brings everything together in a way.”
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