Sole reformist in race as Iranians vote for new president

Iranians go to the polls Friday to elect a new president after ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash last month, with a sole reformist among the candidates.

The election in sanctions-hit Iran comes at a time of high regional tensions between the Islamic republic and its arch-foes Israel and the United States as the Gaza war rages on.

Around 61 million eligible voters are called to the polls where reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, hopes for a breakthrough win against a divided conservative camp.

The Guardian Council, which vets candidates, allowed him to run against a field of conservatives now dominated by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Also left in the race is cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi after two ultraconservatives dropped out — Tehran major Alireza Zakani and Raisi's former vice president Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi.

Polls open at 8:00 am (0430 GMT) in 58,640 stations across the country, mostly in schools and mosques.

They would stay open for 10 hours, though authorities could extend voting time as in previous elections.

Early projections are expected by Saturday morning and official results by Sunday.

If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, a second round will be held on July 5, for only the second time in Iranian electoral history after the 2005 vote went to a runoff.

The candidacy of Pezeshkian, until recently a relative unknown, has revived cautious hopes for Iran's reformist wing after years of dominance by the conservative and ultraconservative camps.

He has been praised as "honest, fair and caring" by Iran's last reformist president, Mohammad Khatami.

Khatami, who served from 1997 to...