Iran begins voting in presidential election with limited choices

Iranians started voting on Friday for a new president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader, at a time of growing public frustration.

Polls opened at 8:00 a.m. (0430 GMT) and close at 6:00 p.m. (1430 GMT), but are usually extended as late as midnight.

The election coincides with escalating regional tension due to the Gaza war, Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as increased Western pressure on Iran over its fast-advancing nuclear programme.

While the election is unlikely to bring a major shift in the Islamic Republic's policies, its outcome could influence the succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's 85-year-old supreme leader, in power since 1989.

Khamenei called for a high turnout to offset a legitimacy crisis fuelled by public discontent over economic hardship and curbs on political and social freedom.

"The durability, strength, dignity and reputation of the Islamic Republic depend on the presence of people," Khamenei told state television after casting his vote. "High turnout is a definite necessity."

Voter turnout has plunged over the past four years, as a mostly youthful population chafes at political and social curbs.

Manual counting of ballots means the final result is expected to be announced only in two days, though initial figures may come out sooner.

If no candidate wins at least 50 percent plus one vote from all ballots cast, including blank votes, a run-off round between the top two candidates is held on the first Friday after the election result is declared.

Three candidates are hardliners and one is a low-profile comparative moderate, backed by the reformist faction that has largely been sidelined in Iran in recent years.

Critics of Iran's clerical rule say the low and declining turnout of recent elections shows the system's legitimacy has eroded. Just 48% of voters participated in the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power, and turnout hit a record low of 41% in a parliamentary election three months ago.

The next president is not expected to usher in any major policy shift on Iran's nuclear programme or support for militia groups across the Middle East, since Khamenei calls all the shots on top state matters.

However, the president runs the government day-to-day and can influence the tone of Iran's foreign and domestic policy.

Prominent among the remaining hardliners are Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, parliament speaker and former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who served for four years in Khamenei's office.

The sole comparative moderate, Massoud Pezeshkian, is faithful to Iran's theocratic rule, but advocates detente with the West, economic reform, social liberalisation and political pluralism.

His chances hinge on reviving the enthusiasm of reform-minded voters who have largely stayed away from the polls for the last four years after previous pragmatist presidents brought little change. He could also benefit from his rivals' failure to consolidate the hardline vote.

The Guardian Council, which vets candidates, allowed the reformist Pezeshkian, 69, to run against a conservative field dominated by Ghalibaf and Jalili.

No major reformist or moderate candidates were approved for Iran's last presidential election three years ago.

Also left in contention is cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi after two ultraconservatives, Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani and Raisi's former vice president Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi, dropped out.

All four candidates have vowed to revive the flagging economy, beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions re-imposed since 2018, after the United States ditched Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers.

In the past few weeks, Iranians have made wide use of the hashtag #ElectionCircus on X, with some activists at home and abroad calling for an election boycott, saying a high turnout would legitimise the Islamic Republic. 

Khamenei demands 'most qualified candidate' 

Voting was underway at 58,640 polling stations across the country, mostly in schools and mosques.

Polling stations will be open for 10 hours, though authorities could extend voting time as in previous elections.

Early projections of the results are expected by Saturday morning and official results by Sunday.

The candidacy of Pezeshkian, until recently a relative unknown, has revived cautious hopes for Iran's reformist wing after years of dominance by the conservative and ultraconservative camps.

Iran's last reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, praised him as "honest, fair and caring".

Khatami, who served from 1997 to 2005, had also endorsed the moderate Hassan Rouhani, who won the presidency and sealed Iran's nuclear deal in 2015 with Western powers before it was derailed three years later.

The Iranian opposition, particularly in the diaspora, has called for a boycott of the vote which they see as not credible.

Khamenei insisted this week that "the most qualified candidate" must be "the one who truly believes in the principles of the Islamic Revolution" of 1979 that overthrew the US-backed monarchy.

The next president, he said, must allow Iran "to move forward without being dependent on foreign countries", although he added Iran should not "cut its relations with the world".

Debate over hijab

During campaign debates, Jalili criticised the moderates for having signed the 2015 accord which promised Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Jalili said the deal, which the United States withdrew from in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump, "did not benefit Iran at all".

Jalili led Iran's nuclear programme negotiations between 2007 and 2013.

Pezeshkian has urged efforts to salvage the agreement and lift crippling sanctions.

"Are we supposed to be eternally hostile to America, or do we aspire to resolve our problems with this country?" he asked.

On the eve of the ballot, the United States on Thursday announced sanctions against shipping companies, based in the United Arab Emirates, for transporting Iranian oil, saying it was a response to "escalations" in Iran's nuclear programme.

The contentious issue of the compulsory head covering for women also emerged during the campaign, almost two years since a vast protest movement swept the country after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22.

An Iranian Kurd, Amini had been arrested for an alleged violation of the country's strict dress code for women.

In the televised debates, all candidates distanced themselves from the sometimes heavy-handed police arrests of women refusing to wear the hijab head covering in public.

Pourmohammadi, the only clerical candidate, said that "under no circumstances should we treat Iranian women with such cruelty".