The first round of presidential elections took place in Iran, with two candidates advancing to the next stage - liberal Masoud Pezeshkian and conservative Saeed Jalili, according to IRNA.
Preliminary results show Pezeshkian received 10.4 million votes (42.5%), while Jalili garnered 9.5 million (38.6%).
More than 24.5 million votes have been counted nationwide. Iranian state authorities noted a record-low turnout.
Two other candidates have been eliminated from the race - conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (who received 3.83 million votes) and former Minister of Justice and Interior Mostafa Pourmohammadi (who received about 206,000 votes).
Before the first round of elections, two other candidates withdrew from the race.
The second round of presidential elections is scheduled for next Friday, July 5.
Background
On May 19, Iranian media reported that a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was involved in an accident. The Foreign Minister and several other officials accompanied the Iranian leader.
Later, it became known that the Iranian president and other passengers of the helicopter died. Their bodies were found after a prolonged search operation.
Following this, Iran scheduled early presidential elections. For more details on how the elections in Iran, which supplies weapons to Russia, are conducted, read the RBC-Ukraine article.
