In Iran, voting is on for the election of the country’s new President. Nearly 50.5 million Iranians would be casting their ballots at more than 66,000 polling stations across the country. Voting began at 8 am local time and will continue till 7 pm Indian time. Voting hours may be extended till mid night if the voters are not able to cast their votes.

Six candidates are in the fray including the President of the Center for Strategic Research, Hassan Rohani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili and former Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Velayati. Iran’s Supreme leader Atyatollah Khamnei cast his vote in Teheran. He urged the voters to come out in large numbers and vote for the new President to discourage what he called the enemies of Iran and force them to think their stand against the country. United States has questioned the validity of a non elected Guardian council vetting the Presidential candidates and said the elections are not free, fair and transparent. Opinion polls have predicted a close race for the top job between the conservative candidates and the reformists. Counting of votes will begin at midnight and results are expected over the next 24 hours. In case no candidates gets 50 percent votes in the first round, runoff election will be held on June 21.

In the second round, the candidate getting maximum number of votes will be elected as the new President of Iran. The President of Iran is elected for a four-year term.