Iran’s Khamenei urges turnout after voters shun first presidential round

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Wednesday for voters to participate in Friday’s presidential ballot, saying that historically low first-round turnout was not an act “against the system”.

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili will face off after leading the pack in the first round last week, in an election cycle brought forward by the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a May helicopter crash.

Only 40 per cent of Iran’s...