Disenchanted voters stay away as Iran faces rare runoff presidential election

A supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Masoud Pezeshkian holds up a poster of the reformist during a campaign stop in Tehran (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Over 20 years ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stood before a crowd at Friday prayers to denounce the US for its disenchanted electorate.

“It is disgraceful for a nation to have a 35% or 40% voter turnout, as happens in some of the nations that you see having presidential elections,” Mr Khamenei said in 2001.