Iran is electing its president: It is wondered whether the reformist candidate Pezeshkian will be able to attract the reactive public segments to the ballot box.

Voters in Iran started going to the polls as of this morning to determine the country’s 14th president.

Ballot boxes were set up at approximately 59 thousand points across the country, and it is a matter of great curiosity how the participation will be in the country where there are nearly 61 million voters.

In the elections held after the death of President Ibrahim Reisi in a helicopter crash in May, 6 candidates were approved by the regime to run.

However, two of these candidates withdrew from the race to avoid splitting the conservative vote. It was commented that these withdrawals took place at the request of the religious leadership.

Among the four presidential candidates competing today, Mesut Pezeshkian stood out from the other names with his statements during the campaign process.

Pezeshkian has the support of two former reformist presidents, Hassan Rouhani and Mohammed Khatami, and former foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.

Recent opinion polls show Pezeshkian ahead of Mohammad Baqir Galibaf, the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and current speaker of the parliament, and Said Jalili.

Jalili headed the delegation representing Iran in talks on its nuclear program.

Among the four candidates competing at the ballot box today, Mustafa Purmuhammedi is the only cleric among the candidates.

Conservative presidential candidates oppose improved relations with the West and argue that Iran can succeed despite sanctions.

Former health minister Mesut Pezeşkiyan, who is on the reformist wing, attracted attention with his statement that the actions of the morality police, which imposed strict headscarf rules against women, were “immoral”.

Pezeshkian, 69, said of this imposition: “If wearing certain clothes is a sin, then what is done to women is 100 times greater. It is not written anywhere in religion that it is permissible to pressure someone because of the way they dress.”

Pezeshkian also vowed to work to improve relations with the West and revive nuclear talks to lift sanctions that have wreaked havoc on Iran’s economy.

Voter turnout is seen as an important test of the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy.

Turnout in the last presidential elections in 2021 and the parliamentary elections in March were at record lows.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for “maximum” public participation.

It is no surprise that popular groups supporting the regime showed a large turnout in the election.

Young people and Iranians, who are mostly in the middle class of society, are experiencing great disappointment.

These groups do not trust any state-run political process.

“There are a lot of billboards on the streets asking for votes for a ‘better tomorrow’, but we don’t eat them anymore. Nobody wants to vote,” said a 20-year-old student in Tehran contacted by the BBC by phone.

In the historic protests that began after Mahsa Amini’s death in morality police custody in 2022, the gap between a section of society and the administration has widened dramatically.

The brutal treatment of protesters has deepened hatred towards the regime, especially among Generation Z.

In past elections, hopes placed on reformist presidents did not bring change.

Those seeking reform in the country were increasingly marginalized.

Even a former president, Hassan Rouhani, was unable to obtain permission to run.

Many Iranians have lost hope that meaningful change can be achieved through the ballot box.

“I won’t vote this year. I know nothing will change. The economy is in such a bad state that a generation of young people now want to leave Iran,” a 70-year-old woman in Tehran who had previously voted for reformist candidates told the BBC.

Azad (not her real name), a women’s rights activist who was imprisoned during the protests, describes the action as an “election circus”.

“When the puppeteer is just one person, Khamenei, it doesn’t matter which name comes out of the ballot box,” Azad said in a message to the BBC via a social media app.

Azad recalls that during the peak days of the Mahsa Amini protests, the slogan chanted on the streets was “Reformists or conservatives, the game is over for them.”

Some in Iran believe religious institutions allowed Pezeshkian to run in order to increase voter turnout.

Azad also shares this view and describes Pezeshkian’s candidacy as a “game” played by the regime:

“We don’t trust them and we don’t want to be manipulated.”

Many people who spoke to the BBC for this report from Tehran over the past few days echoed this view.

“Voting is a duty, but I will not do it. Because all previous elections have shown that presidents do not work for the people,” a law student tells the BBC.

But the small glimmer of hope for change that Pezeshkian represents for open-minded Iranians could persuade others to head to the polls, too.

“I will vote for Pezeshkian,” says 54-year-old Meryem from Tehran, adding: “I believe that change can only come from within Iran, through reform.”

Meryem points out that Pezeshkiyan has no connection with the security institutions and that there are no allegations of corruption against him.

He also hopes that Iran can improve its relations with the outside world and believes that it will win.

There is a big question mark about how much room for maneuver he will have if he does this.

Senem Vekil of the think tank Chatham House draws attention to this point and says that “Pezeshkiyan is a reformist in name only”:

“He supports the Islamic Republic and is deeply committed to the Supreme Leader. His candidacy could potentially increase public participation in the polls, but if he is elected, we should not expect more than a difference in style.”