Iranian voters continue to vote to elect a new president to succeed the current president, Hassan Rouhani, at a time when the turnout is the most prominent challenge in these elections.

Four candidates from the conservative and moderate currents are competing in these elections: Judicial Council President Ibrahim Raisi, former director of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati, Mohsen Rezaei, and Qazizadeh Hashemi.

The head of the government's National Monitoring Center described participation in the Iranian presidential elections as good, without giving any figures related to the percentage of voting, given that the number of eligible voters exceeds 59 million.

For its part, the Guardian Council said that any unofficial reports on the percentage of participation in the elections are unfounded, stressing the need to rely only on the reports of official institutions.

Parliament spokesman Abbas Kadakdayi had previously acknowledged the existence of technical problems that coincided with the start of the elections, but they were resolved, without prejudice to the electoral process.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei casts his vote in the presidential elections at a polling station in Tehran (Anatolia)

Invitations to intensify participation

While casting his vote in Tehran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on voters to participate strongly in the elections, and said that the people will decide the country's fate for the coming years through their participation in those elections.

President Rouhani also called on citizens to vote en masse and put aside the problems experienced in the stage of submitting candidates for elections, and said that citizens should realize the importance of these elections for their fate and the fate of the republic.

For his part, moderate candidate in the Iranian presidential elections, Abdel Nasser Hemmati, said that he would end the international isolation that Iran is experiencing if he wins the elections.

After casting his vote, Hemmati added that Iranians have the right to improve their living and economic conditions, stressing that the next president should focus on promoting development.

The participation of an Iranian family in the elections (Al-Jazeera)

Ahmadinejad criticizes and Khatami is elected

In turn, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that he will not vote in the Iranian presidential elections and will not support any candidate in them, adding that the way the elections were conducted is not in the interest of the country and negatively affects national interests.

In turn, the former reformist president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, cast his vote in the Iranian presidential elections in Hosseiniya Jamaran (north of Tehran).

Khatami, one of the most prominent figures of reformists in Iran, called on Iranian citizens to participate massively in the elections to thwart any scheme that contradicts the concept of the republic, as he put it.

my boss the luckiest

In the context of expectations of winning the elections, Reuters news agency quoted local media as saying that the head of the judiciary, Ibrahim Raisi, who is "subject to US sanctions", is the most likely to win these elections, and said that he has the support of the Revolutionary Guards.

For its part, the French Press Agency said that Raisi's victory would strengthen the conservative movement's grip on the joints of the ruling bodies in the republic, after its broad victory in the Shura Council elections last year.

Raisi's campaign filed a complaint with the Electoral Publicity Committee, noting that a number of polling stations have experienced malfunctions since the centers opened this morning.

These elections come in light of an economic and social crisis caused mainly by US sanctions, and exacerbated by the Corona pandemic.