Iran presidential election 2024 updates: Pezeshkian faces Jalili in run-off

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Voters are still casting their ballots in Iran’s run-off elections, and we expect polling hours to be extended again to close sometime around midnight local time (20:30 GMT).

We will continue our live coverage tomorrow with results from the vote, reactions from important players, analysis and more.

Join us tomorrow.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a brief recap of today’s events:

• Voters are still casting their ballots to choose whether Jalili or Pezeshkian will be the country’s next president, after polling hours were extended for the second time.
• Voting is now scheduled to end at 10pm local time (18:30 GMT), but this cutoff is expected to be extended again.
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei kept with his tradition of voting early in the morning, saying in brief remarks that this is a “good day of participation”.
• Fewer than two hours after voting started, Mohammad Mokhber – interim president since the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May – said turnout was higher compared with the same time last week.

Mohammad Marandi, political analyst and professor at the University of Tehran, says there is no doubt what is topping people’s concerns in this election.

“The main issue for people is the economy; 90 percent of Iranians, according to different polls, feel that the number one issue is the economy and issues that are linked to the economy,” he told Al Jazeera.

Furthermore, Marandi noted how the two candidates’ political offering are not that different.

“Pezeshkian has spoken about trying to revive the nuclear deal, but he also said that if the Americans don’t abide by their commitments, if the Americans are not willing to make the right steps – we’ll have to choose a different road.

“So both candidates have different policies, but it’s not as if they’re completely different,” he said.

Here’s a quick reminder about last week’s vote breakdown that led to the run-off.

According to Interior Ministry figures, 24,535,185 Iranians out of more than 61 million eligible voters cast ballots for the four candidates vying for Iran’s presidency.

Here were the results:

• Masoud Pezeshkian: 10.4 million votes
• Saeed Jalili: 9.5 million votes
• Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: 3.4 million votes
• Mostafa Pourmohammadi: 206,397 votes

Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old woman from the northwestern province of Kurdistan who in September 2022 had travelled to Tehran with her family.

She was coming out of a metro station in the capital with family members when she was arrested by morality police for alleged non-compliance with the country’s mandatory hijab rules that have been in place since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

She was put in a van and taken to a so-called re-education centre where women receive guidance on how to dress properly. Surveillance camera footage released by Iranian law enforcement showed how she collapsed when she was there and was taken to a hospital, where she died days later.

A demonstration first formed in front of the hospital she was taken to in Tehran, followed by protests in her hometown of Saqqez, which then spread to cities and towns across the country.

Afarin, owner of a beauty salon in the central city of Isfahan, has said she abstained during the first round of voting last week but this time, she voted for Pezeshkian.

“I know Pezeshkian will be a lameduck president but still he is better than a hardliner,” the 37-year-old told Reuters.

Meanwhile, university student Sepideh, 19, in Tehran said she would not vote, citing the 2022 death of a 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini that sparked nationwide protests.

“This is a big ‘no’ to the Islamic Republic because of Mahsa. I want a free country, I want a free life,” Sepideh told the news agency.

The voting process started at 8am (04:30 GMT) and is ongoing. Polls were set to close at 6pm (14:30 GMT), but the Ministry of Interior has extended the voting period by two hours.

The reason for the extension is to secure a high turnout because that is a major concern among Iranian authorities as the turnout is the primary source of legitimacy.

There will probably be more extensions with voting likely to continue until midnight.

This is one of the most contested elections in the history of the Islamic republic. We know that it’s a neck-and-neck race between these two candidates.

But one thing is clear: A low turnout would benefit the conservative candidate while a high turnout will likely increase the chances of a victory for the reformist candidate.

The two challengers offer different visions on how Iran should move forward.

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old former health minister, says he wants to open up the country to the West to find ways to lift US sanctions that have crippled the country’s US economy, while also loosening up social restrictions.

For his part, Jalili, 58, offers uncompromising policies towards Western countries.

Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator also insists on pivoting the country’s business towards the East, strengthening ties with Russia and China.

Melika Moghtadaie, a 19-year-old voter in Tehran, has said she voted for Jalili.

“I hope that Jalili, if he gets elected, will be able to help improve the country’s economy … as we expect,” the university student told AFP.

At a voting centre in Tehran, 40-year-old Hossein says he cast his ballot for Pezeshkian.

The reason?

The centrist candidate “can make changes”, said Hossein, who gave only his first name.

“During his campaign, it seemed to me that he raises the crucial issues with honesty,” he told AFP.

• Voters are still casting their ballots to choose whether Jalili or Pezeshkian will be the country’s next president.
• The polls are due to close in half an hour but voting time is expected to be extended.
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has kept with his tradition of voting early in the morning, saying in brief remarks that this is a “good day of participation”.
• Fewer than two hours after voting started, Mohammad Mokhber – interim president since the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May – said turnout was higher compared with the same time last week.
• Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has firmly rejected any possible allegations of election fraud, saying they only come from outside the country.

In an unprecedented trend, several conservative figures are supporting reformist Pezeshkian.

“Jalili is too extreme, will exacerbate domestic problems and create blocks before resolution of outstanding issues with the US,” Vali Nasr, a professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, told Al Jazeera.

“His team is also viewed as corrupt and incompetent,” he added.

Notable figures who called on people to vote for Pezeshian include Sami Nazari Tarkarani, who led Ghalibaf’s electoral campaign and Sardar Rashid, a senior IRGC commander.

Observers note that Pezeskhian is not perceived as an “extreme reformist”, but rather a moderate who appealed to technocratic conservatives.

Last Friday, after the votes had been cast and were being transferred to be counted, a vehicle carrying ballots was ambushed in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Two security officers were killed in the armed attack and multiple others were injured, according to officials, but the ballots were safe.

Police chief Ahmad Reza Radan told state media on Friday afternoon that no security incidents have been reported so far.

Polls so far have been saying that Pezeshkian is leading the race, but this same poll last week failed terribly in its prediction so people have very little trust in it.

The big elephant in the room is the voters’ turnout. In the past years, apathy among voters has dramatically increased – that is one of the great concerns among authorities as turnout is regarded as a primary source of legitimacy for the Islamic republic.

That’s why we have seen authorities and influential people calling on people again and again to cast their votes.

Last week, the supreme leader said casting a vote is the backbone and the dignity of the Islamic establishment.

We will likely know about the turnout around midnight as we expect authorities to extend the voting period to increase it.

Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei tells reporters that the president will have an effect on wide-ranging issues and requires a strong mandate, so people must vote.

He reminded that the president is the head of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution – two state entities that set policies impacting internet freedoms and issues like the hijab.

As the head of another council set up to coordinate economic policy between different branches of the state, the president can also shift economic policy, Ejei said.

“The president can be influential in removing the limitations that we face today. The president is tasked with implementing the constitution, and one principle of that is materialising the rights of the people.”

Iran’s regional involvement with the so-called “axis of resistance” will unlikely change, regardless of who wins, says Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar.

This could become an obstacle to the country’s ability to engage with the West, Kamrava told Al Jazeera.

Here’s a quick roundup of who Iran is backing in the region:

• In Lebanon, Iran backs the Hezbollah group, which is trading fire with Israel on a near-daily basis. A major confrontation hasn’t happened so far, but incendiary rhetoric and repeated hostilities have raised the prospect of a war between the two, multiple times.
• In Gaza, Iran supports Hamas, which has been fighting an Israeli war on Gaza for the past nine months.
• In Syria, Tehran has offered training and arms to Shia groups while also supporting the government of Bashar al-Assad.
• In Yemen, Iran has supported the Houthi rebels, who took parts of the country in 2014 and began fighting a Saudi-led coalition in 2015.
• Other Iran-backed groups include Shia militia factions in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah, who have carried out hostile operations against US soldiers.

Five people have been arrested across Australia after trying to disrupt voting in the Iranian run-off election, according to Tehran’s envoy to Australia.

Ahmad Sadeghi told state media that one person was arrested in Sydney after a “very bad verbal assault”, with three more taken in by police in Melbourne and another in Brisbane.

Diaspora members who oppose the Iranian establishment have demonstrated in front of polling stations abroad to discourage people from voting.

However, videos online from multiple countries, including Australia, have shown that some of the demonstrators have verbally abused or even physically accosted voters, calling them “traitors” among other things.

Many of the people posting the videos online are supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah who advocates for the overthrow of the theocracy in Iran, although he told Voice of America in an interview earlier this week that he does not condone such acts.