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Voting in Iran’s presidential election ends, vote counting begins — spokesperson

Voting hours were extended three times because of hot weather, Mohsen Eslami said

DUBAI, June 29. /TASS/. Voting in Iran’s snap presidential election has come to an end, but vote counting has started, Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for the country’s election headquarters, said.

"After midnight (local time), the polling stations are closed, ballot boxes are opened and the counting of ballots begins," Eslami said, as quoted by the IRIB television channel.

The polling stations were scheduled to close at 6:00 p.m. local time, but because of hot weather, voters rushed to cast their ballots and lined up in long queues later in the evening. So, voting hours were extended three times, eventually ending at midnight local time. Iran held the snap presidential election following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi on May 19.

Four politicians are taking part in the presidential race. Among them are three conservative candidates - the parliament’s Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf; Saeed Jalili, Ali Khamenei’s representative in the Supreme National Security Council; and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, former interior and justice minister - and one reformist - Massoud Pezeshkian, former health minister.

No preliminary results have been made public yet. The authorities emphasize that it is necessary to wait for the official information from the Interior Ministry. According to opinion polls, the front-runners are conservatives Ghalibaf and Jalili along with reformist Pezeshkian. Many analysts do not rule out a runoff in which one of the two conservatives and the reformist will face off. If the runoff takes place, it will be held on July 5.

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