Early returns show reformist Pezeshkian leading Iran runoff vote: interior ministry
The Hindu
Iran's reformist Pezeshkian leads in presidential runoff against ultraconservative Jalili, with final results to be announced Saturday.
Iran's reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian was leading in runoff presidential elections against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, according to early results released on July 6 by the interior ministry.
Officials have so far counted more than 11 million ballots for Pezeshkian and around 9 million for Jalili, electoral authority spokesman Mohsen Eslami was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.
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The final result will be announced later on Saturday.
Iran held the first round of its snap presidential election last week which was marked by a record low turnout.
Only 40% of Iran's 61 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the first round - the lowest turnout in any presidential election since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The first round saw Pezeshkian, a sole reformist candidate, leading the polls running against three conservative figures with Jalili coming second and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in third place.