Iranians Flock to the Polls to Elect a New President

The World

Iranians voted Friday in a presidential election.

The vote is widely seen as rigged in favor of the government’s preferred candidates.

All six candidates in the election are conservatives approved by Iran’s religious authorities.

Earlier, the Supreme Leader himself, Ayatollah Khamenei, was at the polls.

And he had a very firm response to Western skepticism. “To hell with you if you don’t believe in our election,” he was heard saying.

Tehran born journalist Nazila Fathi reported for The New York Times from Iran until she was forced out of the country in 2009.

She’s now at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

She said there were long lines outside the polling stations, with many people saying they’d vote for the more moderate of the conservative candidates.

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