New Delhi

Between Atlantic and Mediterranean, the global election summer is beginning to peak. This week, the corridors of power in Tehran, Washington D.C., London and Paris appeared in the middle of a flux that could reshape geo-economic dynamics of our increasingly polarised world.

Advertisment

In Tehran, the all-powerful Guardian Council's concession of a reformist candidate in the presidential election turned the tables and now there will be a runoff election between the reformist and a Khamenei loyalist.

In Washington D.C., President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump has made the specter of a Trump presidency all too real.

In Paris, President Macron's snap election gamble is playing in the hands of far right.

Advertisment

Read this and more, in The Capitals, this weekend.

Tehran, Iran

A total of six candidates were running for president a month after President Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash. By the eve of elections, the field was down to four with voluntary retractions by two Khamenei loyalists and purportedly to ensure more support for hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. But Jalili failed to establish a decisive lead over reformist lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian. 

Advertisment

Also read | Iran elections: One reformist, three Khamenei loyalists battle it out in June 28 polls

The voter turnout was reported to be just about 40 per cent, a record low for an Iranian presidential election since 1979 revolution. 

The initial results showed Pezeshkian received 10.45 million votes, Jalili 9.47 million and the other leading conservative Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf 3.38 million. A fourth candidate, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former justice minister won only 206,000.

Also read | Iranians vote in snap polls with hopes of better economy, regional stability

The runoff between Pezeshkian and Jalili will take place on Friday (July 5). But this doesn't mean a win for the Iran's reformist camp. The bulk of the Ghalibaf votes (about 3.38 million) are predicted to switch to Jalili. Unless Pezeshkian manages to get more voters out of their homes given that the first round showed he stands a chance to win, it'll all but a smokescreen of hope for the reformists in Iran intending to get out of the shadow of conservative norms that have come to define Iranian life after 1979. 

Paris, France

French President Emmanuel Macron is a big-time fan of literature. On state visits, he has made it a point to meet literature pioneers of the host country. To state guests, he has gifted Marcel Proust's first edition novels. It is somewhat based on this literary idealism that Macron called snap elections earlier in June after his party was trounced in European parliamentary elections. 

While most predictions point to a surge in the fortunes of far-right party of Marine Le Pen in a historic first, the numbers are not yet in and the verdict is not yet out. 

Also watch | France Polls: What's at stake and what to expect?

×

But French voters have turned out in large numbers on Sunday (June 30) for the first round of high-stakes snap parliamentary elections.

The two-round vote could put the far-right in power in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation in the second World War. 

Macron and his wife Brigitte cast their ballots in Le Touquet in northern France, with the 46-year-old president seen taking selfies and mingling with supporters.

Final opinion polls have given the Le Pen's National Rally between 35 per cent and 37 per cent of the vote, compared to 27.5-29 per cent for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and 20-21 per cent for Macron's centrist camp.