Iran seesawing vote results put race between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili

Early, seesawing results released in Iran’s presidential election put the race between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili. The lead is trading between the two men and a runoff vote appears likely. Iranian state television reported that after counting over 12 million votes Saturday, Pezeshkian had over 5 million while Jalili held 4.8 million. Another candidate, hard-line speaker of the parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, had some 1.6 million votes. Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had more than 95,000 votes. It did not offer any turnout figures for the race yet — a crucial component of whether Iran’s electorate backs its Shiite theocracy after years of economic turmoil and mass protests.