Voting is underway in the presidential election of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Voting started from 8 am local time on Friday and will continue till 6 pm. However, the time may be extended by two hours till midnight.

According to the rules, Iran’s presidential election was supposed to be held in June next year. That is, the vote was held at the end of the four-year term of the incumbent president. But on May 19, the president of Iran, Ibrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash, leaving the post of president vacant, and early elections are being held. According to the constitution, there is an obligation to hold fresh elections within 50 days.

Iranian authorities allowed six candidates to run in the election. Later the two withdrew their candidature.

The four candidates contesting the election are – Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, Senior Security Officer Saeed Jalili and Security Officer Mostafa Pourmohamdi.

It is assumed that the voter turnout in the election will not be very high. Voters are disillusioned with the failure of reformists to run in elections, the economic crisis and deadly protests across Iran. The previous 2021 election had a voter turnout of just over 48 percent, the lowest voter turnout in any presidential election in Iran. The result is scheduled to be declared tomorrow on Saturday.

But since the ballots are counted manually after the polling, the final results are expected to be announced in the next two days. Although the initial trends or preliminary statistics of the results may come out soon.

If a candidate does not win by at least 50 percent of all ballots cast, including void votes, a run-off round of voting between the top two candidates is held on the first Friday after the election results are declared.

Three of the candidates contesting the election are hardliners and one is relatively moderate. The moderate candidate is being supported by the reformist party.

The spokesman of Iran’s Guardian Council said on Thursday that 95 countries will vote for the presidential election on Friday. Basically, Iranian citizens residing in those countries will have the opportunity to exercise their voting rights.

According to a Reuters report, the role of Iran’s president is magnified in the international arena, but the real power of the country is in the hands of the supreme religious leader. He makes the final decision on foreign or nuclear policy and control of various branches of government, military, media and various financial resources. It is believed that someone close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will win this election. That is, the result of this election will affect Khamenei’s legacy.

Khamenei’s current age is 85 years. It is expected that whoever becomes Iran’s president will be closely involved in the selection of Khamenei’s successor.