Voting at early presidential election kicked off in Iran Friday, to elect a new president following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
A sum of 61,452,321 voters have the right to vote in the 14th presidential election, the state-run news agency (IRNA) reported.
The candidates remaining in the race are Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, and Masoud Pezeshkian. Two candidates - Alireza Zakani and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi - announced their withdrawal from the elections.
Polls will close at 6:00 p.m. (local time), but are usually extended as late as midnight by the ministry of interior.
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% 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.
