TEHRAN: Masoud Pezeshkian will face Saeed Jalili in Iran's presidential election runoff, authorities said on Saturday, following a vote marred by historically low turnout.
Pezeshkian secured 42.4 per cent of the vote, while Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, came second with 38.6 per cent, according to figures from Iran's elections authority.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was next with 13.8 per cent, while the only other candidate, conservative cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi, got less than one per cent.
"None of the candidates could garner the absolute majority of the votes," electoral authority spokesman Mohsen Eslami said.
In his first post-election remarks, Pezeshkian thanked his supporters and urged them to vote again next Friday "to save the country from poverty, lies, discrimination and injustice".
"I hope your presence will be the basis of a new voice for change in attitude, behaviour, conversation and in the distribution and allocation of resources," he added in a video published on the website of the reformist newspaper Etemad.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had called for a high turnout ahead of Friday's vote. Only slightly more than 40 per cent of the 61 million electorate took part -- a record low turnout for the Islamic republic -- and more than one million ballots were spoiled. - SEE ALSO P6
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