Presidential election in Iran | A reformer wants to create a surprise

(Tehran) Voting operations were extended Friday until 8 p.m. (12:30 p.m. Eastern time) in Iran for a presidential election whose outcome promises to be uncertain due to the breakthrough of a reformer in the face of conservative candidates divided.

This extension, usual for elections in Iran, was announced by the Interior Ministry, which could still extend it until 10 p.m. or even midnight.

The authorities gave no figures on participation, while some 61 million voters were expected to go to 58,640 polling stations across the country.

All day long, state media showed lines of men and women waiting, identity documents in hand, before casting their ballots in the ballot box in mosques or schools decorated with national colors.

As is traditional, it was the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who launched the operation by voting at 8 a.m. (12:30 a.m. Eastern time), in front of dozens of cameras, in Tehran.

“Election day is a day of joy and happiness for us Iranians,” he said. “We recommend to our dear people to take the vote seriously and participate in it. I see no reason to hesitate.”

The election was hastily organized after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19.

It is closely followed abroad while Iran, heavyweight in the Middle East, is at the heart of several geopolitical crises, from the war in Gaza to the nuclear issue, in which it opposes Western countries.

Four candidates, men in their fifties and sixties, are in the running.

If none of them wins more than half the votes, a second round will be held on July 5, which has only been the case in one presidential election, in 2005, since the advent of the Islamic Republic 45 years ago.

Official results are expected no later than Sunday, but estimates are expected to be released on Saturday.

Hope

The surprise may come from the lone reformist candidate, Massoud Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old lawmaker who was virtually unknown when he was allowed to run by the Guardian Council, the body charged with overseeing the elections.

Discreet in appearance but speaking frankly, this doctor from the Azeri minority has given new hope to the reformist and moderate camps, totally marginalized in recent years by the conservatives and ultraconservatives.

Opposing him, the supporters of the current power are divided between the candidates Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, conservative president of Parliament, and Saïd Jalili, former ultraconservative negotiator on the nuclear issue and hostile to a rapprochement with the West.

To hope to win, Massoud Pezeshkian must count on a strong increase in participation compared to the last elections, shunned by around half of the voters.

Only 49% of them voted in the 2021 presidential election, for which no major reform or moderate candidate was allowed to compete.

Opponents, particularly those in the diaspora, have called for a boycott of the vote.

Former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who did not participate in the legislative elections in March in order to protest against the disqualification of reformists, nevertheless voted in the morning.

On the other hand, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, announced via his daughter on Instagram that he would not participate in the election.

For Mohammad Reza Hadi, a 37-year-old voter interviewed at a polling station in Tehran, it is important to vote “in order to choose the political fate of our country ourselves”. “It’s a way of expressing our demands,” added Ehsan Ajdi, an employee, to AFP.

The veil in debate

Whatever the outcome, the election is expected to have limited repercussions because the president has limited powers: he is responsible for implementing, at the head of the government, the broad political guidelines set by the supreme leader, who is the head of state.

During the debates, ultraconservative Said Jalili criticized the moderates for signing the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal with the major powers, which “did not benefit Iran at all.”

“Are we supposed to be eternally hostile to the United States or do we aspire to resolve our problems with this country?” asked Mr. Pezeshkian, calling for a revival of the nuclear agreement in order to lead to the lifting of the severe sanctions that are affecting the Iranian economy.

Furthermore, the very sensitive issue of the compulsory wearing of the veil for women has emerged in the campaign, almost two years after the vast protest movement that shook the country at the end of 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for non-compliance with the dress code.

In the televised debates, the candidates distanced themselves from the police arrests, sometimes heavy-handed, of women refusing to wear the hijab in public places.

“Under no circumstances should we treat Iranian women with such cruelty,” said Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the only religious candidate.