BEIJING, June 17 -- Iran is set to hold presidential elections later today, to choose a successor to Mohammed Khatami. But opinion polls show none of the seven candidates will gain the required 50 percent of the vote. This means a run-off is likely for the first time in Iran's history.

    Friday's presidential election is the ninth since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Voting started at 9 o'clock in the morning local time, and polls are expected to be open for 10 hours.

    No candidate looks likely to gain an outright victory. With forecasts giving him 45 percent of the vote, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is the front-runner.

    The 70-year-old's nearest challengers are former police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Mostafa Moin, an education minister under outgoing President Khatami.

    Khatami himself is barred by law from seeking a third consecutive term.

    All the candidates have sought to win over the young, a key constituency in a country where half the population is under 25. They have promised to create more jobs and allow more social freedoms.

    (Source: CCTV.com)