Hard-liner Saeed Jalili leads in early Iran presidential election results, state TV reports

Saeed Jalil (Image: AFP)

Early results in Iran's presidential election put hard-liner Saeed Jalili ahead on Saturday, followed by reformist Masoud Pezeshkian.

The early results, reported by Iranian state television, did not initially put Jalili in a position to win Friday's election outright, potentially setting the stage for a runoff election.

It also did not offer any turnout figures for the race yet — a crucial component of whether Iran's electorate backs its Shiite theocracy.

Jalili had over 10 million votes, followed by Pezeshkian with 4.2 million. Another candidate, hard-line speaker of the parliament Mohmmad Bagher Qalibaf, had some 1.38 million votes. Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had more than 80,000 votes.