Swing voters likely to determine next Iranian president

World Today

Swing voters likely to determine next Iranian president

It’s a tight race between the two main contenders in Iran’s presidential election. Experts say it will be the swing voters who will make the final call.

CGTN’s Yang Zhao reports.

The political showdown is about to start. However, 20 million, or 35 percent of voters, have not yet decided who will be their next president. This number is much higher than four years ago.

Both incumbent Hassan Rouhani and conservative presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi is going all-out to lure the swing voters.

Rouhani championed a nuclear deal that ended a stand-off with the West, leading to many sanctions being lifted in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. But Raisi said his signature deal failed to revive the economy.

“The turnout of the electoral will be very high this time. The competition is going to be fierce. Rouhani has his own ticket bunker, but he is also luring that 30 percent of swing voters. Under some situations, these ballots will swing to another camp,” said Kanani Moghadam, an Iranian news commentator.

A recent survey shows 49 percent of respondents will vote for Rouhani, and 39 percent for Raisi. But if no candidate wins an outright majority on Friday, then the top two will compete in a second round of voting on May 26.