Iran heads to a runoff election between Saeed Jalili and Massoud Pezeshkian

Iran will hold a runoff presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, an official said on Saturday, after an initial vote saw the top two candidates fall short of securing an outright win.

The run-off election will be held after the reformist-backed Masoud Pezeshkian and hardliner Saeed Jalili emerged at the top but failed to secure a majority in a vote with a record-low turnout.

The  Ministry of Interior in Iran said that only 40 percent of more than 61 million eligible Iranians voted in the presidential election.

The final numbers from election headquarters showed that the Pezeshkian received more than 10.41 million votes from a total of more than 24.5 million ballots counted, trailed by former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili with 9.47 million votes.

This is only the second time since the 1979 revolution that a presidential election has gone to a second round.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, with 3.38 million votes, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, with 206,397 votes, were knocked out of the race.

Two other candidates, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and government official Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, dropped out.

Noteably, Ghalibaf, Zakani and Ghazizadeh called on their supporters to vote for Jalili in the run-off next Friday in order to ensure victory for the “revolution front”.