The snap presidential elections in Iran have featured a number of peculiarities, not only distinguishing them from polls in other countries—but also past Iranian ballots.

First and foremost, while neither free nor fair, the elections have been competitive. Four members of the highly fractured conservative camp were cleared to run against a single Reformist. The latter came as a surprise. Many observers anticipated a repetition of the previous 2021 elections, when the Guardian Council barred Reformists altogether. This shift gave rise to two diametrically...