In a recent state TV interview, he said he would follow Khamenei’s policies should he win the election. “I believe in the supreme leader, I am totally following him,” he said.

Ethnic minority candidate

As an ethnic Azeri Turk, Mr Pezeshkian hopes to garner votes from millions of Azeris and other minorities, such as the Kurds and Baluchs, who have faced discrimination in recent years.

In 2009, after the violent suppression of protests against the election of a hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he briefly disrupted parliament with a fiery speech against the use of force on demonstrators.

Two years ago, he criticised the clerical establishment for the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained for failing to wear her hijab properly.

The election comes at a critical moment for Iran’s clerical establishment.

The country’s economy has been weakened by years of international sanctions, with inflation nearing 50 per cent.

Under Raisi’s administration, personal freedoms and women’s rights were violently suppressed.

Iranians who still believe in the electoral system hope that Mr Pezeshkian could potentially lead Iran out of international isolation or at least avoid plunging the country into the abyss of war in an increasingly volatile region.