Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

While the presidential race continues in Iran with a high turnout, the country's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said that the voting hours of the country's 11th presidential elections will be extended.

Mohammad-Najjar said the voter turnout at the June 14 elections has been high and thus the polling stations will remain open for more hours beyond the initial deadline, Press TV reported.

Polls officially opened in Iran for presidential and city and rural councils elections at 8:00 a.m. (0330 GMT), and were originally scheduled to remain open for 10 hours. The time for voting at the presidential elections was extended by two hours -- until 8 p.m. local time.

Mohammad-Najjar said the Interior Ministry was closely monitoring the process of voting and would take immediate action to investigate any suspected violations of law.

He said the candidates' representatives were present at all polling stations in line with the measures taken to increase transparency.

The minister also said the vote counting process would start immediately after polls close, and that the process would be faster compared to previous elections.

He said further that 60,000 polling stations have been set up across the country and 130,000 ballot boxes have been prepared for the presidential and city and rural council elections with nearly 50.5 million people eligible to vote.

On measures adopted to hold the presidential election abroad, the minister said Iranian nationals overseas can vote in 290 polling centers set up in 96 countries.

The six candidates running in the presidential election are: President of the Expediency Council's Center for Strategic Research Hassan Rohani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi

Over 200,000 candidates are also running for city and rural council elections.

The primary tallies of the June 14 presidential election will be announced by the Iranian Interior Ministry and will be then approved by the Guardian Council.