Iran is set to hold a second round of presidential elections on July 5 to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19. None of the four candidates secured enough votes to win the first round on June 28. The top two candidates — reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and conservative Saeed Jalili — will face off again on Friday.

The 40% voter turnout on June 28 was a new all-time low for Iran, VOA’s Persian service reported, citing contested data.

The United States “has no expectation of free and fair elections or fundamental change in Iran’s direction,” Abram Paley, deputy special envoy for Iran, said on June 26.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry challenged that, with spokesperson Nasser Kanaani saying, “The genuine and direct role of the people in determining their political destiny in the Islamic Republic of Iran is an obvious principle and has always been proven in practice.”

That is misleading.

Every citizen in Iran can register as a presidential candidate but the ruling theocratic regime chooses who can run.

Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council¸ controlled by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supervises elections and has the power to approve or disqualify candidates. #factcheck #voanews

https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-che...

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