The other contenders are Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric; and Mohsen Rezai, a conservative and the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iran’s President is less powerful than the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final authority over affairs of the state. But the President wields great power over domestic affairs.

As voting began on Friday morning, journalists gathered to watch Ayatollah Khamenei cast his vote at a mosque near his home in southern Tehran.

Just after 8 am, a set of brown curtains opened and the leader emerged, a gaunt 69-year-old with a long white beard, a black turban and a black clerical gown draped around him.

Khamenei presented his identity papers to an official and cast two ballots — one for President, and another for the Assembly of Experts, the 86-member body of senior clerics that appoints and can remove the supreme leader.

“I am hearing about a vast participation of people, and I hear there are even gatherings at night,” Khamenei said. “This shows the people’s awareness.”

The supreme leader also warned about election-day rumours, saying text-messages were being sent around claiming to represent his view on the election, and said they were lies spread by “unhealthy individuals with bad intentions”.

Khamenei has not endorsed any one candidate, but offered a description of the ideal candidate that sounded very much like Ahmadinejad. However, he met for three hours on Thursday with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric and former President, who heads the Assembly of Experts. Some analysts say Rafsanjani’s lobbying efforts could reduce Ahmadinejad’s freedom to bring out voters.

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