Voting in Iran: Polling stations open at 8am local time (4:30am GMT) and close at 6pm (2:30pm GMT).
Tehran:
Iranians will vote for a new president on Friday following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader, at a time of growing public frustration.
While the election is unlikely to bring about a major change in the Islamic Republic’s policies, the outcome could influence the succession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader who has ruled for three and a half decades. the power is.
Khamenei has called for “maximum” turnout to offset a crisis of legitimacy fueled by public discontent over economic hardship and restrictions on political and social freedoms.
Voter turnout has fallen in the past four years, with a predominantly young population chafing at political and social restrictions.
Polling stations open at 8am local time (4:30am GMT) and close at 6pm (2:30pm GMT), but are usually extended until midnight. Because the ballots are counted manually, the final results are not expected to be announced for two days, although the first figures may be known sooner.
If no candidate receives at least 50 percent plus one vote from all votes cast, including blank votes, a runoff between the top two candidates will be held on the first Friday after the election results are announced.
Three of the candidates are hardliners and one is a relative moderate, backed by the reformist faction that has been largely sidelined in Iran in recent years.
Critics of Iran’s clerical regime say low and declining turnout in recent elections shows the system’s legitimacy has eroded. Only 48% of voters took part in the 2021 elections that brought Raisi to power, and turnout in parliamentary elections three months ago hit a record low of 41%.
The elections now coincide with escalating regional tensions due to the war between Israel and Iranian allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as increased Western pressure on Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The next president is not expected to make a major policy change to Iran’s nuclear program or provide support for militia groups across the Middle East, as Khamenei has complete control over top state affairs. However, the president runs the day-to-day government and can influence the tone of Iran’s foreign and domestic policies.
A hardline watchdog body made up of six clerics and six lawyers aligned with Khamenei veteran candidates. It endorsed only six candidates from an initial pool of 80. Two hardline candidates subsequently dropped out.
Prominent among the remaining hardliners are Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, parliament speaker and former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who served in Khamenei’s office for four years.
The only relative moderate, Massoud Pezeshkian, is loyal to the country’s theocratic rule but advocates détente with the West, economic reforms, social liberalization and political pluralism.
His chances depend on reviving the enthusiasm of reform-minded voters who have largely stayed away from the ballot box over the past four years after previous pragmatic presidents achieved little change. He could also benefit from his rivals’ inability to consolidate hardline votes.
All four candidates have vowed to revive the economy, which has been plagued by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018 after the US abandoned Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers.
The hashtag #ElectionCircus has been widely posted by Iranians on social media platform X in recent weeks, with some activists at home and abroad calling for an election boycott, arguing that a high turnout would legitimize the Islamic Republic.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
