Neither of the two leaders in Iran's snap presidential elections has won outright, making a runoff necessary, the Iranian Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
Of 24.5 million ballots cast, moderate candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, had garnered 10.4 million votes, while his hard-line challenger Saeed Jalili had won 9.4 million, according to Mohsen Eslami, an election spokesman.
Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf got 3.3 million, while Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had only something over 206,000 votes.
The Tasnim news agency had already said a runoff election was "very likely" as the country voted for a successor to hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.
Under Iranian electoral law, a runoff between the two top candidates is held on the first Friday after the result is announced if neither wins at least 50% plus one vote from all ballots cast, including blank votes.
The date thus set for the runoff is July 5.
