Iran goes to polls to elect new president after Raisi killed in helicopter crash

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61 million Iranians are voting on Friday for the country’s next president in a snap election that follows the unexpected death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

There appears to be no clear frontrunner leading up to the vote, all but one of the six candidates approved to run are conservative hardliners – and half of them have been sanctioned by Western governments. Of the six initial contenders, four remain in the race after two dropped out earlier on Thursday.

A recent paper by United Against a Nuclear Iran, a U.S. pressure group, argued the level of electoral manipulation by the Iranian regime goes far wider than simply doctoring the list of eligible candidates. The report highlights the role of the Baqiatallah Cultural and Social Headquarters behind a full apparatus and strategy to engineer political and cultural outcomes in Iran.

If there is no clear majority after Friday’s vote, the top two candidates will face a second round on July 5. The winner will serve for four years – and faces no shortage of challenges: economic strife, crackdowns and regional tensions.

Iranian leadership seeks to renew their legitimacy after a steady decline in turnout reached crisis point last year with fewer than 41% voting in parliamentary elections, and fewer than 10% in the capital, Tehran.

Late President Raisi, along with the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and other passengers, was killed in May after the helicopter they were traveling in suffered a hard landing due to inclement weather and went up in flames.