Polls close in Iran's presidential election

Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for the Iranian Interior Ministry's Election Headquarters, made a statement regarding the second round of the elections.

Eslami announced that the voting period, which began at 08:00 local time and was extended three times after it was originally scheduled to end at 18:00, concluded at 24:00.

Eslami stated that as of 24:00, the doors of the polling stations were closed and only those already inside would be allowed to continue voting.

The Iranian official announced that the ballot boxes would be opened and the vote counting process would begin.

LASTED 16 HOURS

The voting period for the presidential election was extended first to 20:00, then to 22:00, and finally to 24:00, lasting a total of 16 hours.

It was observed that a significantly higher number of voters were present at polling stations compared to the first round.

The election features a race between reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, a Member of Parliament for Tabriz and former Minister of Health, and conservative candidate Saeed Jalili, former Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Initial data on the election results are expected to be released at midnight, with final results expected to be announced tomorrow before noon.

CANDIDATES WARNED

Meanwhile, Hadi Tahan-Nazif, spokesperson for the Guardian Council, requested that neither the candidates nor their representatives make any statements regarding the election results before the official results are announced.

Tahan-Nazif said, "No data announced other than the official results is valid in our view."

FIRST RESULTS IN IRAN'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

As the vote counting process continues in the second round of Iran's 14th presidential election, initial results show reformist Tabriz MP Masoud Pezeshkian leading the race.

Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for the Iranian Interior Ministry's Election Headquarters, announced that 2 million 547 thousand 381 votes have been counted so far.

According to this, Pezeshkian has received 1 million 263 thousand 874 votes, while conservative candidate Saeed Jalili has received 1 million 244 thousand 640 votes.

News Source: AA