The Interior Ministry announced a two-hour extension to the voting time of Iran’s presidential election runoff.

The voting time has been extended for two hours till 8:00 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), the Interior Ministry announced.

The voting hours can be extended by Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi if required. 

Last week, the minister extended the time for six hours as the polls closed at midnight. 

According to the law, Iran’s elections should be held on Fridays and hence the time cannot be extended beyond midnight.

Millions of Iranians, inside and outside the country, are casting their ballots to choose the next president in the election runoff. The Interior Ministry says the participation has increased compared to the previous round. 

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Friday and are scheduled to close at 6:00 p.m. (1430 GMT), with the possibility of extensions by the Interior Ministry. 

Mohsen Eslami, the spokesperson for the national election headquarters, told reporters in a briefing at around 3:00 p.m. local time that people’s participation has increased compared to the previous round.

The voting process is going smoothly at around 59,000 polling stations nationwide, he said.

“So far, we’ve seen more people coming in to vote than in the first round. We’re optimistic that this trend will keep up,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, an official with the Guardian Council, which oversees the election, hailed the election process. 

“Thank God, we are witnessing a good trend in the election and problems have not been serious,” Siamak Rahpeyk, deputy head of the Guardian Council, said on Friday afternoon while visiting the election headquarters in the Interior Ministry. 

“I assess the participation to be good and hope that this trend would continue,” he said.

This is a developing story …