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Iranian Presidential Elections Over, Vote Count Underway

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Polling stations closed in Iran late on Friday, and a vote count is currently underway, the Fars news agency said, citing a statement by the Interior Ministry.

TEHRAN, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Polling stations closed in Iran late on Friday, and a vote count is currently underway, the Fars news agency said, citing a statement by the Interior Ministry.

The Islamic Republic’s 11th presidential elections were scheduled to end at 18:00 local time [13:30 GMT], but the voting deadline was postponed four times due to high voter turnout. Polling stations eventually closed at 23:00 local time [19:30 GMT], five hours later than the initial deadline.

The country’s election authority said it had received no reports of major irregularities so far, Press TV reported.

About 50.5 million people out of Iran’s population of some 75 million were eligible to vote, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters.

As Iranians went to the polls, they had a list of six presidential candidates to choose from, whittled down from an initial list of over 600: one reformer, four conservatives and one candidate classified as independent, though he is a former government minister.

A runoff will be held on June 21 if none of the candidates gathers more than 50 percent of the vote. Recent opinion polls indicate that the runoff is likely.

 

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