Voting begins for snap Presidential election in Iran to elect Ebrahim Raisi’s successor

TEHRAN: The polls have opened for the snap Presidential elections in Iran on Friday, to elect the successor of Ebrahim Raisi, who met a tragic fate in a chopper crash on May 19 this year. Any Iranian 18 or older can vote in Friday’s election in Tehran, reported Al Jazeera.

In all, 58,640 polling stations are set up across the country in public spaces including mosques and schools. Voters must first complete an application and present their national ID card, to be able to cast vote at the polling booth. Voters use the secret ballot to write down the candidate’s name and code, which they then deposit into a ballot box, according to Al Jazeera.

Presidential election has officially begun on Friday morning in Iran. Election officials say there are 61 million eligible voters. Participation is expected to be just over 50% according to polls conducted inside Iran.pic.twitter.com/q8klsm8F0V

— Negar Mortazavi نگار مرتضوی (@NegarMortazavi) June 28, 2024

On the first Friday following the election results announcement, a run-off round between the top two candidates takes place if no candidate receives at least 50 per cent plus one vote from all ballots cast, including blank votes.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his vote and urged the people to participate in the election. “I don’t see any reason for doubt”, Khamenei said at the ceremony in a mosque attached to his offices on Friday, according to Al Jazeera. Khamenei said a high turnout was a “definite need” and called the election an “important political test”.

#Iran’s presidential election gets underway. Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casts his vote in the election, urging undecided voters to vote. He said, “The enthusiastic presence of the people and the increase of voters is a definite need for the Islamic Republic”. pic.twitter.com/vHv6djTnlS

— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) June 28, 2024

Meanwhile, two candidates running for Iran’s Presidential race have called it quits right before polls. Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi (53) was the first one who dropped his candidacy on Wednesday night and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened”, reported Al Jazeera.

Alireza Zakani, the mayor of the capital, Tehran, said on Thursday that he was opting out and will not be a part of the Presidential run now.

The presidential elections in Iran were scheduled for 2025, but due to Raisi’s death on May 19 in a helicopter crash in north-western Iran, the election was moved up. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, was also killed, along with other Iranian officials, in the tragic crash.

The 63-year-old Raisi was a prominent figure in the succession planning for Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader and was predicted to win another term in office. (ANI)