Iranian presidential election: Iran prepares for runoff amid growing voter disappointment

More than two decades ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stood before a crowd at Friday prayers and denounced the United States to a disappointed electorate.

“It is a national shame when voter turnout is only 35 or 40 percent, as we see in some countries that hold presidential elections,” Khamenei said in 2001. “It is clear that the people have no faith in the political system, no interest and no hope.”

Iran now finds itself in the situation he described. The country will hold a presidential runoff election on Friday, its second since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but turnout last week was only 39.9% of eligible voters. Of more than 24.5 million votes, more than 1 million were later rejected, a sign of people’s desire to reject all candidates, even as they feel obliged to go to the polls.

Meanwhile, public anger is simmering amid a record low in Iran’s economy and a bloody crackdown on dissent, including mass protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 after she was detained by Iran’s morality police for failing to wear a headscarf according to regulations. Tensions with the West are rising as Iran gets ever closer to weapons-grade uranium.

Now hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Djalili is facing off against reformist heart surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian, who will likely need broad support to win the election. Pezeshkian’s supporters warn of dark days ahead under Djalili, while many others don’t even believe their votes matter.

Iran’s electoral law requires a candidate to receive more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. In results released Saturday, Pezeshkian received 10.4 million votes and Jalili 9.4 million. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf came in third with 3.3 million votes, while Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi received more than 206,000 votes.