Iran election: Unprecedented turnout at Baku polling station (PHOTO)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 19

By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:

Iran today is holding the presidential election in the country, and the high voter turnout of Iranians residing in Baku has been surprising, according to Iranian ambassador to Baku Javad Jahangirzadeh.

Speaking with Trend, Jahangirzadeh noted that whatever the outcome of the election is, it would have a positive effect on the Azerbaijan-Iran relations.

Iranians started to go to two polling stations in Baku and Nakhchivan to elect their next president at 8:00 local time. Along with Iranians residing in Baku, some 300 more Iranian athletes are participating in the Islamic Solidarity Games in Azerbaijani capital.

This round of election includes incumbent president Hassan Rouhani fighting for a second term, rivalled by conservative Ebrahim Raisi, with a career in the judiciary and currently the superintendent of Iran’s biggest religious tourism foundation in Mashhad.