Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday urged voters to take part in Friday’s presidential election after a historically low first-round turnout.
In the first round of Iran’s presidential election, only 40% of the country’s 61 million eligible voters participated, marking the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Khamenei said although “participation was not as expected,” it was “completely wrong to think that those who did not vote in the first round are against the system.”
Reformist contender Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili are competing in Friday’s runoff. They emerged as front-runners in last week’s first round. The election was triggered by the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a May helicopter crash.
Pezeshkian took 42.4% of those votes while Jalili, who recently served as a nuclear negotiator, came in second with 38.6%.
Friday’s runoff was announced after none of the candidates received the 50% threshold required to claim victory.
Some of Iran’s reformist leaders, such as former President Mohammad Khatami, have come together in support of Pezeshkian. Two ultraconservative candidates who withdrew from the race have since endorsed Jalili.
“We hope that people’s turnout for the second round will be important and a source of pride for the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said.
