Iran will hold an unprecedented presidential run-off between the top two contenders in Friday's presidential contest, after early counting showed that no candidate was able to garner 50 percent of the votes, a top electoral official said on Saturday.

The run-off will take place next Friday on June 24, Gholamhossein Elham, a spokesman for the Guardian Council supervisory body, told reporters.

According to figures provided by the Guardian Council supervisory body and quoted by state radio, with 24 million votes counted, pre-election favorite and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had a slight lead with 18.37 percent of the votes, followed closely by Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with 17.24 percent and reformist Mehdi Karroubi with 15.22 percent.

A total of some 32 million voters cast their ballots, and the final election results were expected later on Saturday.

Earlier, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari had said none of the seven candidates could win the 50 percent support needed, meaning a run-off between the top two contenders would be required.

Iranians seemed to have mixed feelings toward the election.

Maziar Mirhosseini, an advertisement consultant who had lived in Canada for five years and immigrated back to Tehran two years ago, told Xinhua he supports former president Rafsanjani.

"Rafsanjani is powerful, and he is able to solve many problems such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) entry," he said.

The 70-year-old former president promised to develop better ties with the West and pursue a pragmatic reform program.

However, a shy university girl named Hoda Koleini said she was likely to choose former education minister Mostafa Moin for his plans to promote freedom.

"But I am afraid he (Moin) will be powerless to carry out his policies, so I said 'maybe' I will vote for him," she said.

Many people doubt a new president will find solutions to the country's tough problems.

"I am not going to vote because no matter who succeeds (outgoing President Mohammad) Khatami, there will be no change," a university girl said on condition of anonymity.

"My family members and my friends have all said that they will not vote," she added.

Polling for Iran's presidential election ended here Friday at 11:00 p.m. local time (1830 GMT), four hours later than the scheduled time due to heavy voter turnout, the interior ministry said.

Interior Minister Lari ordered all polling stations across the country to stop admitting new voters, but those who had already entered the stations would be allowed to finish their voting.

After all the 42,000 polling stations were closed, vote counting began and official results are expected to be announced in 24 hours.

The voter turnout in Iran's ninth presidential election was estimated at some 68 percent by the interior ministry. There are some 46.7 million eligible voters, or all Iranians aged 15 and above, in the Islamic republic.

Iran is facing some tough problems, including the nuclear deadlock, long-standing hostility with the United States, a sluggish economy and high unemployment.

Under Iran's law, if nobody garners at least 50 percent of the votes cast, the top two contenders will hold a run-off one week later.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2005)