BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1. The US doesn't expect the presidential elections in Iran to bring about fundamental changes, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department said during a briefing, Trend reports.
"We're not in a position to confirm any turnout number or speculate on what the implications of that might mean for the Iranian regime. Our viewpoint is that even the Iranian government's official numbers about turnout like most other things as it relates to the Iranian regime, are unreliable. Our view is that these elections in Iran are not free and fair and we have no expectation that these elections, and whatever the outcome might be, will lead to a fundamental change in Iran's direction or lead the Iranian regime to offer more respect for human rights and more dignity for its citizens. I just don't have any prognosis to offer," he said.
Iran held an extraordinary presidential election on June 28. Four candidates were vying for the presidency: Masoud Pezeshkian, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Saeed Jalili, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi.
Former Iranian Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian counted 10.4 million votes. Mohsen Eslami, secretary and spokesperson of the Election Headquarters said that 24.5 million people took part in the voting. Eslami also said that the voter turnout in the early presidential election amounted to 40 percent.
Since none of the candidates received 50 percent of the votes, the second round of the presidential election will be held on July 5 between Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili.
According to the voting results, Jalili received 9.47 million votes, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf - 3.38 million votes, and former Minister of the Interior and Justice and conservative Mostafa Pourmohammadi - 206,000 votes.
Currently, over 61.45 million people in Iran have the right to vote.