Hardliners face reformists in presidential runoff

Voters will elect a new Iranian president on Friday in a showdown between a hardline conservative and a reformist.

The second round of elections takes place after no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first round. first round of elections on June 28, with a record low voter turnout of 40%.

One of them is Dr Massoud Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon who is critical of Iran’s notorious morality police – but his opponent Saeed Jalili supports the status quo.

The election was called after former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi killed in a helicopter crash in May, in which seven others died.

Dr Pezeshkian caused a stir after promising “unity and cohesion” and an end to Iran’s “isolation” from the world.

He has called for “constructive talks” with Western powers on renewing the faltering policy. 2015 nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of Western sanctions.

Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator with strong support among Iran’s most religious community, is known for his hardline anti-Western stance and opposition to reviving the nuclear deal, which he says crossed Iran’s “red lines.”

To be elected, both candidates must pass a vetting process run by the Guardian Council, a body of 12 clerics and jurists that holds considerable power in Iran.

That process eliminated 74 other candidates from the race, including several women.

The Guardian Council has previously been criticized by human rights groups for eliminating candidates who were not sufficiently loyal to the regime.

After years of civil unrest – culminating in anti-regime protests that rocked the country in 2022-23 – many young and middle-class Iranians are deeply suspicious of the current regime and have previously refused to vote.

With voter turnout in the first round at its lowest since the 1979 Iranian revolution, voter apathy could be the deciding factor in the second round.

ABOVE Iranian social mediaThe Persian hashtag “traitorous minority” went viral, calling on people not to vote for any candidate and calling anyone who did so a “traitor”.

But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected suggestions that low voter turnout represents opposition to his rule.

“There are reasons [behind the low turnout] and politicians and sociologists will look at them, but if anyone thinks that those who do not vote are against the current regime, they are completely wrong,” he said.

In a rare move, he acknowledged that some Iranians do not accept the current regime. “We listen to them and we know what they are saying and it is not like they are hiding and not being seen,” Mr Khamenei said.

In Iran, local media have encouraged people to go to the polls.

Reformist daily Sazandegi said “the future depends on your vote” while the Hammihan newspaper said “now it’s your turn”.

The city-run Hamshahri newspaper published an article headlined “100 reasons to vote”, while the state-run Jaam-e Jam newspaper said Iran was “waiting for the people”.

Preliminary election results are expected to be announced Saturday morning.