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Iranians eye presidential run-off amid widespread voter apathy

Four women are preparing a ballot box ahead of an election.

Voter turnout in Iran has been extremely low. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters)

In short:

Iranians have voted in a run-off presidential election on Friday. 

Voter turnout has been extremely low, following the death of the former president in a helicopter crash.

What's next?

The full results won't be known until Saturday.

Iranians went to the polls again on Friday in a run-off presidential election following the death of the former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.

The vote is a tight race between low-key lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, a staunch advocate of deepening ties with Russia and China.

The run-off follows a June 28 ballot with historically low turnout, where more than 60 per cent of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election  

The low participation is seen by critics as a vote of no confidence in the Islamic Republic.

Iranian state TV showed queues inside polling stations in several cities on Friday.

Polls were originally scheduled to close at 6pm local time, before being extended to 8pm and later 10pm in response to requests from polling stations, an interior ministry spokesman told state TV.

The full results won't be known until Saturday local time.

While the election is expected to have little impact on the Islamic Republic's policies, the president will be closely involved in selecting the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's 85-year-old Supreme Leader who calls all the shots on top matters of state.

A man wearing a black turban puts an electoral vote into a large box.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei votes during the presidential election. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via Reuters)

"I have heard that people's zeal and interest is higher than in the first round. May God make it this way as this will be gratifying news," Khamenei told state TV after casting his vote.

Khamenei acknowledged on Wednesday "a lower than expected turnout" last week, but said "it is wrong to assume those who abstained in the first round are opposed to Islamic rule".

Voter turnout has plunged over the past four years, which critics say underlines that support for clerical rule has eroded at a time of growing public discontent over economic hardship and curbs on political and social freedoms.

A man casts his vote into a box while being surrounded by a group of men.

Iranian presidential candidate Saeed Jalili has hardline views on issues such as the mandatory wearing of headscarfs for Iranian women. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters)

Faithful rivals

Election rivals Mr Jalili and Mr Pezeshkian are establishment men loyal to Iran's theocracy. 

In the first round of voting, Mr Pezeshkian got 10.4 million votes, while Mr Jalili received 9.4 million.

Analysts said a win by the anti-West Mr Jalili would signal a potentially more authoritarian domestic policy and antagonistic foreign policy.

A man is smiling and waving while surrounded by a group of men.

Masoud Pezeshkian was the only moderate candidate in the original field of four. (Saeed Zareian/WANA via Reuters)

A triumph by Mr Pezeshkian might promote more pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over now-stalled negotiations with major powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal, and improve prospects for social liberalisation and political pluralism.

However, many voters are sceptical about Mr Pezeshkian's ability to fulfil his campaign promises as the former health minister has publicly stated that he had no intention of confronting Iran's power elite of clerics and security hawks.

Reuters