After the death of President Ibrahim Raisi in Iran, voting is being held today for the new President. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has cast his vote. This election is being held in Iran at a time when it is under tension with Israel and America.
Elections held after death of Former President
Voting for the presidential election started in Iran on Friday. These elections are being held after the death of President Ibrahim Raisi in a plane crash last month. These elections are being held at a time when there is widespread tension in West Asia due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and Iran has been facing an economic crisis for the last several years. Voters will have to choose between hard-line candidates and a lesser-known politician who has been linked to Iran's reformist movement.
Ayatollah urged people to vote
Interior Minister Ahmed Wahedi, who supervised the election process, said voting began at 8 a.m. (local time). Iran's 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his first vote in the election and urged the public to vote. Analysts are assuming a triangular contest in the presidential elections.They believe the main contest is between two hard-line candidates - former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and candidate Massoud Pezeshkian, known as a reformist.
Gave a strong message to Israel
Massoud leans toward former President Hassan Rouhani, under whose rule Tehran struck a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The nuclear deal was canceled and fundamentalist leaders came back to power. Cardiologist Masood (69) is in favor of re-doing the nuclear deal and improving relations with western countries. After casting his vote, Masood told reporters, 'We will try to maintain friendly relations with all countries except Israel.'
Iran has approximately 61 million voters over the age of 18, of whom approximately 18 million are aged 18 to 30. According to Iranian law, to win, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the total votes cast. If that doesn't happen, the top two candidates in the race will advance to the second round to be held a week later.