Nearly 700 candidates for president were weeded down to just six for Iranians to choose a replacement for departing head of state Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
The next president likely won’t be officially chosen for at least another week, as none of the candidates are expected to win a clear majority. But, voters have reportedly turned out en masse to narrow the field.
Iran has 50.5 million eligible voters and 1.6 million of those are first-time voters, according to the state-run English language news channel Press TV.
The Associated Press reports long lines snaked outside of polling stations in capital city Tehran. Although 10 hours were allotted for the vote, the polls were extended four times before closing at 11:00 p.m. local time.
There are four candidates considered to be conservatives and two perceived reformists — both of whom are thought to be the likely candidates to head into the runoffs. Two other candidates on the ballot ended their campaigns just days before the election.
The final two candidates will head into a runoff election on June 21.
It’s widely expected cleric Hassan Rowhani and Tehran Mayor Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf will be the two final candidates.
On its Twitter account, IPOS – a consulting organization that claims to be conducting the only tracking poll of the election – put Rouhani and Ghalifbaf significantly ahead of other candidates.
Adversely, an Al-Jazeera is tracking Twitter comments about the six candidates in real-time, gauging their popularity.
Rowhani remains ahead. But, in this instance Saeed Jalili, a conservative with Ahmadadinejad’s backing, is garnering more chatter online than Qalibaf.
Rowhani is considered the man who may be able to restore relations with Western countries — particularly the U.S. — following Ahmadinejad’s eight-year, two-term rule that will surely be remembered for his anti-American rants, threats against Israel and denial of the Holocaust, and confrontations with international powers over the country’s nuclear program.
“He has been pulling large crowds wherever he has been on the campaign trail — speaking of reform, promising to free political prisoners, to guarantee civil rights and promising to return ‘dignity to the nation,'” BBC reported on Thursday.
Replacing Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad cannot, by law, run for a third mandate.
Rowhani, 65, is the most moderate of the candidates and appears to be inspiring many voters.
Going into the election, he had the endorsement of former president, and Ahmadinejad’s predecessor, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The Guardian reported Rowhani said, in presidential debates, he aimed to improve foreign relations.
“I do not approve of the current foreign policy. We should try to have good international interactions to gradually reduce the sanctions and finally remove them,” the Guardian reported him saying at a recent rally.
He also said he would try to bring an end to tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
Rowhani was once the chief nuclear negotiator, but fellow candidate Jalili is the country’s current chief negotiator and an ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and supporter of his ideals. Foreign Policy magazine has called 47-year-old Jalili the “The Ayatollah’s Point Man.”
Ahmadinejad threw his support behind Jalili, after his choice for heir to the presidency was disqualified from the race. Iran’s Guardian Council which chooses the presidential candidates, barred Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei from the polls last month.
Read more – Khamenei to U.S.: “the hell with you”
Ahmadeinejad vowed to contest the decision and has not made many public appearances since his protege was disqualified.
Prompted by a post on Jalili’s Facebook page, rumours spread he was leading in 21 of Iran’s 31 states.
But, that rumour was later dismissed and the Facebook post removed.
That wasn’t the only rumour of the day. At one point, word spread that Rowhani was the victim of an attack or accident in the southwestern city of Fasa. That, too, was proven wrong.
Polls closed at 11:00 p.m. local time, but results of the first round of voting are not expected until sometime Saturday morning.
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