‘The big story here is the low turnout figure’ • FRANCE 24 English

those results indeed confirming that there that a second round runoff vote will take place just to break down the figures for you out of the 24 A5 million votes that were cast 10.4 million votes counted for masud pesan 9.5 million for S jili but the big story here that low turnout figure just 40% the lowest turnout uh since the 1979 Islamic revolution a big blow to Iran’s clerical rulers especially to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali K he had insisted on the need for people to come and vote to push up participation he said that the Islamic Republic’s Pride uh and dignity and reputation depended on a high uh turnout the other big story here is the turnaround that this has been for masud pesan at the start of this race he was seen as an outsider a bit of an underdog uh but now we’ve seen in the last few weeks how his rallies have drawn growing crowds the former Health Minister uh also a former heart surgeon endorsed by two former presidents now standing a real chance of becoming Iran’s next president however if he is to beat s Jal he will need to persuade younger people to vote in the second round he will need to get those turnout figures pushed up on the other hand say Jal well he’ll need to convince uh other uh more conservative voters to Rally behind him and he’s already had a boost because in the last few hours Muhammad bager KH that was the third place candidate has told his supporters to Rally behind s Jal in the second round run so in the second round runoff so a big boost already for S Jal and Andy you’ve been on the ground covering these elections in ton what’s the mood been like what have you been hearing from people yeah indeed our team has been covering this story for the last several days now here in tyan and we’ve met lots of people uh in the Iranian capital and I think what we’ve know notic here is a real divide between those on the one hand particularly young people students who say they don’t want to participate in these elections uh because they don’t think their vote will make any difference because they say that reformist reformist presidents in the past haven’t changed anything uh and then uh other people who we met in polling booths on Friday for example uh lots of women who told us that they hope that their vote will mean change uh for women that it will bring greater equality uh for women we also met a man who said that he hoped the next president would pick up where Ibrahim RI left off so you have this polarization between uh on the one hand of course uh the candidates running in the system so uh the reformist uh candidates running against the conservative candidates but then outside the system you have this polarization between those who don’t want to participate because they think their W their their vote would be a waste anyway and those who still insist that voting is a civic duty

The big story here is the low turnout figure of just 40 percent, said FRANCE 24 journalist Andrew Hilliar, reporting from Tehran, Iran. It was the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and a big blow to Iran’s clerical rulers, especially to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had insisted on the need of the people to come and vote, added Hilliar. 

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