When the polling stations opened this morning, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the people to vote, as it was a "religious obligation" and a clear signal against the US isolation of Iran. But despite this, turnout is expected to be low. During the afternoon, about 11 million voters of a total of 58 million had voted, according to the country's Ministry of the Interior.
Exactly how high voter turnout is is still unclear, but if it gets low, one explanation may be that several regime critics have called for a boycott of the election, the BBC reports.
Another conceivable factor that could affect voter turnout is the fear of the new corona virus, on Friday, Iran's health authorities announced that two people have died in the country as a result of the infection, according to Reuters. However, the authorities do not think that there are reasons for not voting.