Voting for Iran’s 14th presidential election started at 8:00 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Friday after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.

“We start the elections” for the country’s 14th presidential elections, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a televised address.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cast the first ballot at a polling station, and made a brief speech calling for the unity of the Iranian people during the election.

Authorities estimate that over 61 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which will be held at close to 59,000 polling stations in more than 95 states.

Iran’s 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following Raisi’s unexpected death.

Six candidates were initially qualified to enter the race: Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the current vice-president; Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran; and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker.

Others were Saeed Jalili, the former top negotiator for nuclear talks; Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister and justice minister; and Masoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister.

Later on, Hashemi and Zakani, two principlist candidates, withdrew from the race in favor of Qalibaf and Jalili, who are also in the principlists’ camp.

(Xinhua/NAN)