News ID: 263

Date: 28 June 2024 - 08:19

Polls open across Iran to elect new president

Polling stations across Iran opened on Friday morning for the 14th presidential election. The voting started at 8:00 a.m. (04:30 GMT) on Friday. It will continue for 10 hours until 6:00 p.m., with the minister of interior having the authority to extend the voting time if necessary.

Iranians have headed to the polls as soon as the stations opened to elect the country’s new president.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei cast a ballot as soon as the voting kicked off.

More than 61,450,000 Iranian voters are eligible to take part in the elections inside the country and abroad.

The individuals born on or before June 28, 2006, are eligible to vote.

Around 59,000 polling stations have been set up across the country, including over 15,000 mobile stations.

A total of 340 polling stations have been set up in 100 countries to enable Iranian expatriates to participate in the election, according to Tasnim.

Forces from the Police, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Basij are tasked with ensuring the security of the election.

There are four candidates seeking the presidency in the polls, including Saeed Jalili, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and Masoud Pezeshkian. Two other hopefuls, Alireza Zakani and Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi dropped out of the race on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Constitutional Council has singled out the candidates from 80 applicants seeking the presidency.

The new administration, the 14th one after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, will assume power in late June or early July and hold office for four years.

The polls take place a year ahead of schedule, as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi passed away in May.

A helicopter carrying President Raisi and his entourage crashed in northwestern mountainous forests on May 19, killing the president, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six others.