Hardline candidate Saeed Jalili and reformist Massoud Pezeshkian are competing in Iran’s presidential election.
Both candidates are holding around 40% of the vote with more than 8 million votes counted, each surpassing the other in recent hours.
The election will enter a second round – scheduled for next Friday – if neither Mr Jalili nor Mr Pezeshkian win 50% of the vote.
Two security forces members were killed after unidentified gunmen attacked a vehicle carrying ballot boxes in Sistan-Baluchestan province, state media reported.
Mr Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon and health minister, has promised a different approach, citing the actions of the morality police, who enforce strict dress codes for women. , is “immoral”.
The vote is to replace former president Ebrahim Raisi, who died on May 19 when the helicopter he was in crashed into a mountain, killing seven others.
Despite Iran’s 61.5 million eligible voters, turnout is expected to be low in this election. It hit record lows in parliamentary elections in March and the most recent presidential election in 2021.
According to earlier unofficial estimates, voter turnout was just under 40 percent of eligible voters — if confirmed, the lowest turnout in a White House race since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority in the country, called for “maximum” voter turnout.
Iran was rocked by a wave of mass protests in 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.
Human rights groups say hundreds have been killed in the crackdown and thousands have been detained.
