AGL 37.65 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.21%)
AIRLINK 132.50 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BOP 5.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.71%)
CNERGY 3.80 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.8%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 40.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.49%)
DGKC 88.44 Decreased By ▼ -1.72 (-1.91%)
FCCL 35.39 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (0.88%)
FFBL 66.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-0.53%)
FFL 10.36 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.07%)
HUBC 108.81 Increased By ▲ 2.41 (2.27%)
HUMNL 14.33 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (6.94%)
KEL 4.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.21%)
KOSM 7.04 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (2.77%)
MLCF 42.65 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (2.03%)
NBP 59.70 Increased By ▲ 1.12 (1.91%)
OGDC 185.00 Increased By ▲ 3.75 (2.07%)
PAEL 25.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-0.7%)
PIBTL 5.86 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.51%)
PPL 148.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.1%)
PRL 23.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.3%)
PTC 16.52 Increased By ▲ 1.28 (8.4%)
SEARL 68.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-0.78%)
TELE 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.83%)
TOMCL 35.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-0.83%)
TPLP 7.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.03%)
TREET 14.24 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TRG 50.90 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.1%)
UNITY 26.45 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,779 Increased By 11.4 (0.12%)
BR30 29,788 Increased By 387.9 (1.32%)
KSE100 92,077 Increased By 139 (0.15%)
KSE30 28,717 Decreased By -26.5 (-0.09%)

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Wednesday for voters to participate in Friday’s presidential ballot, saying that historically low first-round turnout was not an act “against the system”.

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili will face off after leading the pack in the first round last week, in an election cycle brought forward by the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a May helicopter crash.

Only 40 percent of Iran’s 61 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the first round, representing the lowest turnout in any presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Khamenei, in a video published by state TV, said it was “completely wrong to think that those who did not vote in the first round are against the system”.

But “participation was not as expected,” added Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran.

Pezeshkian won 42.4 percent of the votes, while Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, came second with 38.6 percent.

As none of the candidates secured more than 50 percent of the votes, a runoff round has been set for Friday.

“The second round of the presidential election is very important,” said Khamenei, calling for a higher turnout.

Conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who won 13.8 percent of the votes in the first round and did not qualify for Friday’s ballot, has urged supporters to back Jalili in the runoff.

Two ultraconservative candidates who had dropped out of the race also threw their weight behind Jalili.

Reformist figures including former president Mohammad Khatami have rallied behind Pezeshkian.

Khatami urged voters to head to the polls in large numbers to “avoid making the situation worse” in Iran.

The elections will be held amid heightened regional tensions over the Gaza war, a dispute with the West over Iran’s nuclear programme and popular discontent over the state of Iran’s sanctions-hit economy.

Comments

Comments are closed.