Iran’s presidential election heads to runoff after inconclusive first round

Iran’s presidential election is expected to head to a second round after none of the candidates managed to secure more than 50% in Friday’s vote, according to the spokesperson of the election committee, Mohsen Eslami.

A runoff vote is expected to take place on July 5 between the candidates with the most votes – Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist lawmaker and former health minister ahead of Saeed Jalili, a hardline security adviser and former nuclear negotiator.

The results will be reviewed by the influential Guardian Council before the top two candidates start campaigning again.

Pezeshkian received almost 10.5 million votes while the runner up Jalili received almost 9.5 million votes, according to numbers published by state news agency IRNA.

Twenty-four million people cast their ballots out of 60 million eligible voters, with a turnout of 40%, Eslami said.

This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow…