Hard-liner Saeed Jalili leads in early Iran presidential election results, state TV reports

By The Associated Press on June 28, 2024.

In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, hard-line former Iranian senior nuclear negotiator and candidate for the presidential election Saeed Jalili casts his ballot in a polling station, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians are voting in a snap election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi. (Alireza Sotakabr, ISNA via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Early results in Iran’s presidential election put hard-liner Saeed Jalili ahead Saturday, followed by reformist Masoud Pezeshkian.

The early results, reported by Iranian state television, did not initially put Jalili in a position to win Friday’s election outright, potentially setting the stage for a runoff election.

It also did not offer any turnout figures for the race yet – a crucial component of whether Iran’s electorate backs its Shiite theocracy.

With over 10 million votes counted, Jaili had 4.26 million vote followed by Pezeshkian with 4.24 million. Another candidate, hard-line speaker of the parliament Mohmmad Bagher Qalibaf, had some 1.38 million votes. Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had more than 80,000 votes.

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This story has been corrected to say 10 million was the overall number of votes initially counted.