Iran candidates Pezeshkian and Jalili hold final rallies ahead of presidential runoff

NEWS WIRES

4 July 2024 at 3:13 am·1-min read

Iranian presidential hopefuls Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili held their final campaign rallies on Wednesday in preparation for Friday's snap election runoff. Around 61 million Iranians are eligible to vote on who will succeed the late president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

In a bustling Tehran prayer hall, ultraconservative Saeed Jalili has rallied fervent supporters ahead of Friday's runoff presidential vote, while his reformist rival Masoud Pezeshkian stirred up a crowd in a nearby stadium.

The two candidates held their final campaign rallies late Wednesday, after leading the first-round vote in snap elections to succeed president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a May helicopter crash.

Chants of "All Iran says Jalili" echoed as thousands of supporters of the hardline former nuclear negotiator gathered at the Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, buzzing with excitement.

Jalili promised "strength and progress" if elected, as posters of the late ultraconservative Raisi adorned the walls, bearing the slogan: "A world of opportunities, Iran leaps forward."

At an open-air stadium elsewhere in the capital, Pezeshkian made the case for "unity and cohesion", his supporters' chants invoking another former president – the reformist Mohammad Khatami who has endorsed their candidate.

(AFP)

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