The Iranian judiciary chief has underlined the need for a massive turnout in the 2024 presidential runoff election, saying higher votes for the country’s future chief executive boosts his public support.
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made the remarks on Friday after he cast his ballot at a polling station at the Lorzadeh mosque in southern Tehran.
“If the president is elected with higher votes, he has more public support, and thus he can carry out his plans better and faster as the country’s chief executive,” he told reporters.
“We should participate [in the election] massively and vote for the person we evaluate as the most qualified, if we look at the issue from a national, religious and political perspective while caring about fate of the country and the resolution of its problems.”
Iranians line up at Shah Cheragh holy shrine in Shiraz to cast their ballots in the presidential election run-off. #IranVotes2024 pic.twitter.com/qE5QqkIAAY
— Iran Election 2024 (@PressTVElection) July 5, 2024
Mohseni-Ejei further noted that the president is responsible for implementing Iran’s Constitution and upholding the rights of the people.
He reminded that the Iranian president is also the head of the Supreme National Security Council, the Supreme Council of Economic Coordination, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which makes him a key figure in addressing security, economic, and cultural issues.
Iranians began voting Friday in the runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raeisi, who lost his life in a helicopter crash in May.
The race pits candidates Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili against each other, after they did not succeed in winning an outright majority in the first round of the election on June 28.