Local opinion polls put the reformist and moderate Pezeshkian slightly ahead of the ultra-conservative Jalili, who is vying for the presidency after Raisí’s death in a helicopter crash.
Polls opened in Iran on Friday in the second round of snap presidential elections between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili.
Some 58,000 polling stations opened their doors at 8am local time (6.30am in the Basque Country) and the official closing time is 6pm (4.30pm in the Basque Country) across the country, where they are called to vote after more than 61 million people went to the polls.
Authorities usually extend the voting period until midnight.
Iranians will vote in this second round between the reformist and moderate Pezeshkian and the ultra-conservative Jalili to succeed President Ebrahim Raisí, who died in a car accident in May.
The Local polls gave Pezeshkian a narrow lead over Jalili.
Cardiac surgeon Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old former health minister, started the campaign with low expectations but gradually rose to prominence with a message of rapprochement with the West and criticism of the veil.
Jalili, the 58-year-old former Iranian nuclear negotiator, has been described as a “true product of the Islamic Revolution,” is anti-Western and has vowed to follow the policies of the ultra-conservative Raisi, under whose leadership government repression has intensified.
Source: EITB
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