Iran's presidential candidate Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi withdrew his bid late Wednesday, becoming the first to exit the contest.
The 53-year-old former vice president under the late President Ebrahim Raisi called on other candidates to follow suit "so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened."
Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who previously headed the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, also ran in the 2021 presidential election, receiving just under 1 million votes and finishing last.
His withdrawal, typical in the final hours of Iranian presidential campaigns, leaves five candidates vying for the presidency.
Analysts currently view the presidential race as a three-way contest.
Two hardliners, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, are competing for the same conservative bloc.
The only reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, a surgeon associated with former President Hassan Rouhani's administration, rounds out the top contenders.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called for a "maximum" turnout in Friday's poll while issuing a veiled warning to Pezeshkian and his allies about relying on the United States.
However, public apathy towards voting appears widespread in Tehran following the May helicopter crash that claimed President Raisi's life.
The theocracy continues to exclude women and advocates of radical governmental change from the ballot.
Many Iranians face dire economic conditions and concerns about an increasingly volatile Middle East, with Iran recently launching its first direct attack on Israel.
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