Presidential candidates Saeed Jalili, left, and Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran. | Picture credit score: AP
Greater than 20 years in the past, Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stood earlier than a crowd throughout Friday prayers to denounce the USA for its disenchanted voters.
“It’s shameful for a nation to have a voter turnout of 35% or 40%, as occurs in among the nations that maintain presidential elections,” Khamenei stated in 2001. “It’s apparent that its individuals don’t belief their political system, that they don’t care and that they don’t have any hope.”
Iran is now going through what he described. Iran will maintain a second spherical of presidential elections on Friday, the second for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution, after solely 39.9% of its voting inhabitants forged ballots the earlier week. Of greater than 24.5 million votes, greater than 1,000,000 had been later rejected, a typical signal that individuals really feel compelled to go to the polls however wish to reject all candidates.
In the meantime, public anger simmers after years of Iran’s economic system slumping to new lows, coupled with bloody crackdowns on dissent, together with mass protests sparked by the 2022 demise of Mahsa Amini after her detention by the nation’s morality police for allegedly not carrying her scarf based on guidelines. Tensions with the West stay excessive as Iran enriches uranium to ranges nearer to weapons-grade than ever earlier than.
Now, hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili faces reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, a coronary heart surgeon who will doubtless want a big voter turnout to win the presidency. Pezeshkian’s supporters warn of darkish days forward beneath Jalili. In the meantime, many individuals should not satisfied that their vote even issues.
Iran’s electoral regulation requires a candidate to win greater than 50% of the vote to keep away from a runoff. Within the outcomes launched Saturday, Pezeshkian obtained 10.4 million votes, whereas Jalili obtained 9.4 million. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf got here in third with 3.3 million, whereas Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi obtained greater than 206,000.