Iranians vote in run-off presidential race amid widespread apathy

Iranians today voted in a run-off presidential election that will test the clerical rulers’ popularity amid voter apathy at a time of regional tensions, Reuters reports.

State TV said polling stations opened their doors to voters at 8am local time (0430 GMT). Polling will end at 6pm (1430 GMT), but is usually extended until as late as midnight. The final result will be announced tomorrow, although initial figures may come out sooner.

The run-off follows a 28 June ballot with historically low turnout, when over 60 per cent of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, following his death in a helicopter crash. The low participation is seen by critics as a vote of no confidence in the Islamic Republic.

The vote is a tight race between low-key lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

While the election is expected to have little impact on the Islamic Republic’s policies, the president will be closely involved in selecting the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader.

“I have heard that people’s zeal and interest is higher than in the first round. May God make it this way as this will be gratifying news,” Khamenei told state TV after casting his vote.

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Khamenei acknowledged on Wednesday “a lower than expected turnout” last week, but said “it is wrong to assume those who abstained in the first round are opposed to Islamic rule”.

Voter turnout has plunged over the past four years, which critics say underlines that support for clerical rule has eroded at a time of growing public discontent over economic hardship and curbs on political and social freedoms.

Only 48 per cent of voters participated in the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power, and turnout was 41 per cent in a parliamentary election in March.

However, the interior ministry spokesman told state TV that early reports indicated “higher participation compared with the same hour in the first round of the election”.

“Voting gives power …even if there are criticisms, people should vote as each vote is like a missile launch [against enemies],” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Commander, Amirali Hajizadeh, told state media.

The next president will run the government day-to-day and can influence the tone of Iran’s foreign and domestic policy.

Both candidates have vowed to revive the flagging economy, which has been beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018 after then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally ditched the nuclear deal.