Iran validates first round presidential election results

Tehran: Following the sudden death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, Iran's Constitutional Council has validated the first round's results of the country's 14th presidential election, which allows candidates to begin their campaigns for the run-off election.

The announcement was made by Hadi Tahan Nazif, spokesman for the council, an institution that oversees the process and results of elections, in a televised interview with the state-run IRIB TV on Sunday.

He said the institution confirms the results following investigation and reviews, Xinhua news agency reported. None of the four candidates vying in the first round had made any objection to the election results during the legal time frame for voicing complaints, he said, adding that the election campaigns could continue until Thursday morning, or 24 hours before the run-off.

In the first round of voting for the snap presidential race that started early on Friday and ended at midnight after being extended three times, no candidate obtained more than 50 per cent of the total votes needed to call a winner.

The country was thus sent into a run-off scheduled for July 5 between top contenders -- reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's former Health Minister, who received more than 42 per cent of the votes in the first round, and principlist Saeed Jalili, the former chief negotiator in the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers, who garnered more than 38 per cent of the total.

Iran's 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following the unexpected death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19.

Source: IANS