Over 20 million Iranians cast votes so far: Interior Ministry

An Interior Ministry official says over 20 million people have cast their ballots in the country's twin elections by 5 p.m. local time (1230 GMT).

According to Press TV, speaking to reporters on Friday, Farhad Tajarri, the spokesman for the central committee tasked with monitoring city and village councils elections,described the turnout as "huge."

He added that the monitoring and executive committees are closely cooperating with each other and emphasized that no serious violation has been reported so far.

Iran's 12th presidential election and the 5th City and Village Councils Elections started simultaneously at 08:00 a.m. local time (0330 GMT) on Friday at some 63,500 polling stations inside the country and 310 others in 102 countries.

The Iranian Interior Ministry's Election Office announced that the voting hours have been extended to 10:00 p.m. local time (1730 GMT).

SS