Reformist candidate leads Iran presidential runoff election on eve of vote: Poll

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - On the eve of Friday's presidential runoff election in Iran, reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian is ahead of his conservative opponent Saeed Jalili, a leading polling agency said.

The latest poll conducted by the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA), which is affiliated with the state-run Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research (ACECR), suggests that Pezeshkian is the favorite to win the runoff vote.

Pezeshkian, a veteran lawmaker and former health minister, and Jalili, a former lead nuclear negotiator and head of the top security body, will face off in Friday's election after securing the highest number of votes in the June 28 polls.

Pezeshkian bagged 10.4 million votes in the first round, while Jalili trailed behind with 9.4 million votes amid the lowest turnout - 40 percent - since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Released on Thursday, the latest ISPA poll was conducted on July 3, after the two televised presidential debates, through face-to-face interviews with a sample size of 3,606 people across Iran.

Respondents were above 18 years of age.

Pezeshkian is projected to secure 49.5 percent of the votes in the runoff election compared to Jalili’s 43.9 percent.

Almost 4.8 percent of voters are yet to decide their candidate of choice, according to the poll, which could influence the final outcome.

The voter turnout is projected to be 45 percent, higher than the June 28 election.

In the 2021 presidential election, when Ebrahim Raisi was elected by a landslide, voter turnout was 48.8 percent.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in remarks on Wednesday, called for increased participation in Friday's runoff election, saying voter turnout is the backbone of the Islamic Republic.

Both candidates, in the two televised debates and their field campaign events, made passionate appeals for greater turnout.

According to the poll, 34 percent of people watched the first presidential debate on Monday and 39.8 percent watched the second debate on Tuesday. A total of 46.5 percent of people watched at least one of the presidential runoff debates.