President Ahmadinejad Goes to Polls to Vote for Next President

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cast his vote in the 11th Presidential and 4th City and Village Council elections here in Tehran on Friday.

Polling started across the country at 08:00 hours Tehran’s time (0330 GMT) Friday for both the presidential and City & Village Councils elections concurrently.

Voting will last 10 hours and polling stations close at 6 pm, but voting hours could be extended if necessary. Ballot counting will start at exactly midnight and final results will be announced 24 hours later.

Presidential campaign kicked off in Iran on May 22 after the Guardian Council released the list of 8 qualified candidates, although 6 have remained now. Electioneering ended at 8:00 local time on Thursday.

The qualified candidates represent a wide range of political streams from Principlists to reformers.

There are now 6 candidates left in the race after two of them quitted. They include Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former Iranian Foreign Minister and Supreme Leader’s top advisor for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati, Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former SNSC Secretary and chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani, former Oil and Telecommunication Minister Seyed Mohammad Qarazi, and former Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezayee.

According to presidential election laws, all Iranian nationals above 18 years of age are eligible to vote.