Iran To Hold Runoff Presidential Election After No Candidate Secures Outright Win

Iran will hold a runoff presidential election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, an official announced on Saturday, after the initial vote saw no candidate securing an outright victory.

The upcoming election this Friday will feature a contest between reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Election spokesman Mohsen Eslami revealed the results during a news conference broadcasted by Iranian state television. Out of the 24.5 million votes cast, Pezeshkian received 10.4 million, Jalili garnered 9.4 million, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf obtained 3.3 million, and Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had over 206,000 votes.

Iranian law mandates that a candidate must secure more than 50% of the votes to win. If this threshold is not met, the top two candidates advance to a runoff held a week later. Iran has only seen one previous runoff presidential election, in 2005, when hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Eslami mentioned that the Guardian Council’s formal approval is required, but no immediate challenges to the results have been reported from any candidates.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those advocating for radical changes have been barred from running, and the elections are conducted without oversight from internationally recognised monitors.

There were calls for a boycott, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. Mir Hossein Mousavi, a leader of the 2009 Green Movement protests who remains under house arrest, also refused to vote, as confirmed by his daughter.

Critics argue that Pezeshkian represents just another government-approved candidate. In a state TV documentary about the reformist candidate, a woman commented that her generation is “moving toward the same level” of animosity with the government that Pezeshkian’s generation experienced during the 1979 revolution.

President Raisi, aged 63, died in a helicopter crash on May 19 that also claimed the lives of the country’s foreign minister and others. Raisi, seen as a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a potential successor, was widely known for his role in the 1988 mass executions and the brutal crackdowns following protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police for allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory hijab.

The election is taking place amidst heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the Gaza conflict, while Tehran-supported militia groups like Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have escalated their involvement in the fighting.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile sufficient to build several nuclear weapons if it chooses to do so.

Despite the unrest, there was only one reported attack related to the election. Gunmen opened fire on a van transporting ballot boxes in the restive southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, killing two police officers and wounding others, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The province frequently experiences violence involving security forces, the militant group Jaish al-Adl, and drug traffickers.

Iran will hold a runoff presidential election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, an official announced on Saturday, after the initial vote saw no candidate securing an outright victory.

The upcoming election this Friday will feature a contest between reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Election spokesman Mohsen Eslami revealed the results during a news conference broadcasted by Iranian state television. Out of the 24.5 million votes cast, Pezeshkian received 10.4 million, Jalili garnered 9.4 million, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf obtained 3.3 million, and Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had over 206,000 votes.

Iranian law mandates that a candidate must secure more than 50% of the votes to win. If this threshold is not met, the top two candidates advance to a runoff held a week later. Iran has only seen one previous runoff presidential election, in 2005, when hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Eslami mentioned that the Guardian Council’s formal approval is required, but no immediate challenges to the results have been reported from any candidates.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those advocating for radical changes have been barred from running, and the elections are conducted without oversight from internationally recognised monitors.

There were calls for a boycott, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. Mir Hossein Mousavi, a leader of the 2009 Green Movement protests who remains under house arrest, also refused to vote, as confirmed by his daughter.

Critics argue that Pezeshkian represents just another government-approved candidate. In a state TV documentary about the reformist candidate, a woman commented that her generation is “moving toward the same level” of animosity with the government that Pezeshkian’s generation experienced during the 1979 revolution.

President Raisi, aged 63, died in a helicopter crash on May 19 that also claimed the lives of the country’s foreign minister and others. Raisi, seen as a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a potential successor, was widely known for his role in the 1988 mass executions and the brutal crackdowns following protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police for allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory hijab.

The election is taking place amidst heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the Gaza conflict, while Tehran-supported militia groups like Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have escalated their involvement in the fighting.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile sufficient to build several nuclear weapons if it chooses to do so.

Despite the unrest, there was only one reported attack related to the election. Gunmen opened fire on a van transporting ballot boxes in the restive southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, killing two police officers and wounding others, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The province frequently experiences violence involving security forces, the militant group Jaish al-Adl, and drug traffickers.

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