Iran will hold a run-off presidential election on Friday after no candidate managed to attract half the votes in a poll marred by a record low turnout.
The second round will offer voters a stark choice between a reformist promising to improve relations with the west and ease social restrictions, and a hardliner intent on consolidating conservatives’ grip on power.
Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist former health minister, secured 42 per cent of the votes announced on Saturday while Saeed Jalili, a regime stalwart who was the most ideologically hardline of three conservative candidates, garnered 38 per cent, according to the interior ministry.
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