NOURNEWS - Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, known as father of the Reformist movement in the country, cast his vote in the presidential and Islamic city and village councils elections in Tehran on Friday morning.
Khatami who served as president for eight years (1997-2005) voted at Hosseiniyeh Jamaran in Northern Tehran on Friday.
Also, the main reformist-moderate camp nominee in today's presidential election and former Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati appeared at the Hosseinyieh Ershad polling station in Northern Tehran along with his wife, Sepideh Shabestari, on Friday morning.
Iranians began voting in the early hours of Friday in a contest among 4 candidates in the 13th presidential elections and also for the 6th Islamic city and village council elections across the country.
State television showed people's presence at polling stations in several cities and towns, quoting officials that over 59 million Iranians out of the more than 85 million population are eligible to vote.
Polls close in at 12:00 midnight although the interior ministry has been allowed to extend voting hours until 2:00 am on Saturday to prevent overcrowding due to high turnout. Ballot counting will start at midnight and preliminary results are expected within 24 hours of polls closing. The elections are also for city and village councils.
For Iranians, the most pressing domestic issue is the economy. In addition, COVID-19 is still a serious problem for Iran.
In addition to presidential elections, people are going to the polls to participate in the 6th Islamic city and village council elections across the country as well as midterm Assembly of Experts elections in 4 provinces, including Tehran, Khorassan Razavi, Qom and Mazandaran, and midterm parliament elections in several provinces, including Tehran, East Azerbaijan, Gilan, Markazi, Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad and Hamedan.
The Iranian interior ministry on May 25 declared the names of 7 hopefuls qualified by Iran’s vetting body, the Guardian Council, to run in the presidential race.
The 7 approved candidates included Iran’s Judiciary Chief Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi, Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council and former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezayee, Iranian reformist politician and former Governor of Isfahan Province Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh, former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Saeed Jalili, Iranian Member of the Parliament Alireza Zakani, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati and Parliament’s Vice-Speaker Seyed Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi.
The disapproved candidates had the opportunity to protest at their disqualification vote and the qualified candidates could start their campaign as of May 25 until 24 hours before elections.
Several candidates, including former Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan and former Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi, dropped out of the race in Rayeesi’s favor before the Guardian Council declared its decision on their qualification.
In the past few days, Alireza Zakani and Saeed Jalili announced their pullout from the Friday presidential election in favor of Ebrahim Rayeesi, while Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh declared his withdrawal in support of Hemmati.
Rayeesi appears to be the front-runner among four candidates running for president in Iran, according to the polls.
NOURNEWS