Reformists, ultraconservatives both lead presidential Iran vote

Both candidates who need 50 percent of vote to win expect runoff for July 5

BEIJING:

Iran's sole reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili are leading in snap presidential elections, according to early results on Saturday from the Interior Ministry.

According to the latest count, Pezeshkian has won more than 8,300,000 votes and Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, has over 7,100,000.

Should the current trend continue, both candidates would head into a runoff set for July 5. The second round is required if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, plus one.

Out of Iran's 13 previous presidential elections since the Islamic revolution in 1979, only one has led to runoffs in 2005.

The Interior Ministry reported that more than 19,000,000 ballots had been counted so far.

Coming third in the early results is the conservative parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, with about 2,600,000 votes.