Ebrahim Raisi

Iran Heads to Rare Runoff in Sham Presidential Race with Record Low Turnout

Iran’s “moderate” reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, once dismissed as a dark horse with little chance of winning the emergency election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, managed to become the frontrunner by about a million votes when the results were announced on Saturday. Pezeshkian could not get past the 50 percent threshold to win outright, so he will face hardliner Saeed Jalili in a runoff election on July 5.

TEHRAN, IRAN - JUNE 28: Iranian presidential candidate Masoud Pezeshkian cast his vote for