Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Friday. They close at 6:00 p.m., subject to extension by the interior ministry if necessary.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei cast his ballot at a polling station in Tehran just as the voting began."Election day is a day of joy and happiness for us Iranians, especially when the election is for the selection of the president as the next few years of the country will be determined by this choice of the people," he said after voting."We recommend our dear people to take voting and participation in this important political test seriously and participate" in it, he added.Ayatollah Khamenei also said, "Durability, consistency, dignity and prestige of the Islamic Republic in the world depends on the presence of the people.""In order to prove the health and sincerity of the Islamic Republic's system, the presence of the people is necessary and obligatory," he said."I hope that God will choose the best option for this country and that the coming years will be good years and people will be satisfied with their choice."More than 61 million people are eligible to vote, the head of the election headquarters said.While there was no clear frontrunner leading up to the vote, two candidates withdrew, leaving four others in the race.Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened”. On Thursday, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani also withdrew, as he did previously in the 2021 election in which Raeisi was voted into office.Former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf remain in the race, so do Massoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon by profession and a member of parliament from the northwestern city of Tabriz, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister.If there is no clear majority after Friday’s vote, the top two candidates face a second round of voting on July 5. The winner will serve for four years.