Iranian presidential election heads to second round

The presidential election in Iran will proceed to a second round next week, as reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and conservative candidate Saeed Jalili failed to secure a majority.

According to the latest data from the Interior Ministry's election center on Saturday morning, with over 19 million votes counted, Pezeşkiyan leads with 8.3 million votes, followed by Jalili with 7.1 million votes.

Conservative parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf received 2.6 million votes, and conservative Islamic leader Mostafa Pourmohammadi garnered 158,314 votes, eliminating them from the race. The other two candidates, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and government official Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, withdrew from the election.