Iranian reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins second round against hardline candidate Saeed Jalili

Tehran:

Iran’s reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won the second round of presidential elections on Saturday against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, the Interior Ministry said.
Pezeshkian received more than 16 million votes and Jalili more than 13 million of the approximately 30 million votes cast, said election authority spokesman Mohsen Eslami, adding that voter turnout was 49.8 percent.

The number of invalid votes was reported to be over 600,000.

Pezeshkian thanked his supporters who came to vote “with love and to help” the country.

“We will extend the hand of friendship to everyone; we are all people of this country; we must use everyone for the country’s progress,” he said on state television.

The election, called shortly after the death of ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, followed a first round marked by historically low turnout last week.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds the highest authority, called for greater participation in the second round, emphasizing the importance of the election.

He said participation in the first round was lower than expected, but added that it was not an act “against the system”.

The vote comes in a context of heightened regional tensions due to the Gaza war, a dispute with the West over Iran’s nuclear program and internal discontent over the state of Iran’s economy, hit by sanctions.

Reformist support

In last week’s first round, Pezeshkian, who was the only reformist allowed to run, won the most votes, around 42 percent, while Jalili came in second with around 39 percent, according to data from the Iranian electoral authority. .

Just 40 percent of Iran’s 61 million eligible voters participated in the first round – the lowest turnout in any presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Pezeshkian’s candidacy, relatively unknown until recently, has raised the hopes of Iranian reformists after years of dominance by conservative and ultraconservative camps.

Iran’s main reformist coalition supported Pezeshkian, with support from former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, a moderate.

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, called for “constructive relations” with Western countries to relaunch the nuclear deal in order to “bring Iran out of its isolation.”

Jalili, 58, is Iran’s former nuclear negotiator, widely recognized for his uncompromising anti-Western stance.

During his campaign, he gathered a substantial base of hard-line supporters and received support from other conservative figures.

Before Friday’s second round, Pezeshkian and Jalili participated in two televised debates during which they discussed the low turnout, as well as Iran’s economic problems, international relations and internet restrictions.

Pezeshkian pledged to ease long-standing restrictions on the internet and to “totally” oppose police patrols that enforce mandatory headscarf use for women, a high-profile issue since the 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd was detained for an alleged dress code violation and her death sparked months of national unrest.

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