IRNA � Presidential candidate Mostafa Mirsalim cast his vote Friday morning in the 12th presidential and fifth city and village councils 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 four 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 until 6pm 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.

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.

Some 66.7 percent of respondents to a survey carried out by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on May 7-8 said they will participate in Iran�s May 19 presidential elections.

Presidential election is also being held in 102 countries.

Some 570 international journalists from 42 countries are covering the event in Iran.