Iran's Presidential Runoff: Reformist Pezeshkian Takes Early Lead

Early results from Iran's presidential runoff election show reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian narrowly leading over hard-liner Saeed Jalili. As of early Saturday, Pezeshkian leads with 2,904,227 votes, closely followed by Jalili with 2,815,566 votes. The election results are eagerly awaited in a nation beset by economic woes and geopolitical tensions.

Early results from Iran's presidential runoff election show reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian narrowly ahead of hard-liner Saeed Jalili, state television reported early Saturday.

The early results, reported by Iran's election authority on state TV, said Pezeshkian leads with 2,904,227 votes trailed by Jalili with 2,815,566 votes.

Mohsen Eslami, the election spokesman, said the result came from 5,819,911 counted votes in 13,277 polling stations.

He did not disclose the percentage of votes counted or the turnout figure for Friday's election. Iran has over 60,000 polling stations and more than 61 million eligible voters in the country of 85 million.

Iran held a runoff presidential election on Friday between a hard-line former nuclear negotiator and a reformist lawmaker. Both candidates had faced challenges in mobilizing a skeptical public to the polls in the first round, which saw a historic low turnout.

(With inputs from agencies.)