IRNA - Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani on Friday cast his vote in Iran's 12th presidential elections.


In addition to the 12th presidential election and the fifth city and village councils election, by-election is also being held in the cities of Isfahan (in Isfahan province), Maragheh, Ahar, Heris (in East Azarbaijan province), Ajabshir, Bastak, Parsian and Bandar Lengeh (in Hormuzgan province) to elect representatives for a number of vacant parliament seats.

For the presidential competition, the candidates are incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, the Custodian of Imam Reza (AS) Holy shrine Ebrahim Raeisi and former minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mostafa Aqa Mirsalim and former Minister of Physical Education Mostafa Hashemi Taba.

First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri and Mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf were other presidential candidates who quitted the presidential race to support their favorite candidates (Rouhani and Raeisi, respectively).

Polling stations are open from 8am until6 pm local time (3:30am to 1:30pm GMT) although authorities have announced that the country's 63,500 polling stations could extend their voting time if necessary.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution which led to the fall of the Pahlavi regime, Iran has held one election each year on average, all of which have witnessed large turnout of the people.

Over 56 million Iranians are eligible to vote in Iran's 12th presidential elections, according to the Election Headquarters of the Interior Ministry.

Out of the total eligible voters over 1.3 million are those who vote for the first time.

Presidential election is also being held in 102 countries.