Iran’s President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian. Via X.
Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran’s presidential election, the country’s electoral authority said on July 6, defeating his conservative rival Saeed Jalili in a pivotal vote.
Out of 30.5 million votes counted in the runoff, Pezeshkian won more than 16.3 million, edging out Jalili, who won more than 13.5 million, to the official count. Voter turnout was reportedly around 50%. The runoff came after no candidate secured a majority in the first round of the election on 28 June, which saw a historically low voter turnout of 40%.
Pezeshkian vowed to extend his hand to all Iranians in his first remarks after being declared the winner of the presidential election.
“Dear people of Iran, the elections are over and this is just the beginning of our support/work. The difficult path ahead of us will not be paved except with your support, empathy and trust. I extend my hand to you and swear by my dignity that I will not leave you alone on this path. Don’t leave me alone,” he said in a post on X, echoing an earlier promise to “extend the hand of friendship to everyone” if he won.
From his side, Jalili conceded defeat in the election and stressed that anyone who is elected by the Iranian people must be respected.
“Not only should he be respected, but now we must use all our strength and help him move forward with strength,” he told state television.
The Iranian presidential election was called after the country’s previous president Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May, in which seven others also died.
Before the elections, Pezeshkian was representing the Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr electoral district in the Parliament of Iran, and also served as its First Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2020. He was Minister of Health and Medical Education between 2001 and 2005 in the Government of Mohammad Khatami.
Pezeshkian was elected governor to both Piranshahr and Naghadeh counties in West Azerbaijan province during the 1980s. He ran in the 2013 presidential election, but withdrew, and ran again in the 2021 election, but was rejected.
The president-elect is critical of some of Iran’s most sensitive internal security issues, like the rule played by the morality police.
He has also called for “constructive negotiations” with Western powers over a renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for an easing of Western sanctions.
The election of Pezeshkian came amid high tensions in the Middle East over the ongoing Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, and related confrontation with Iran-allied groups in Lebanon and Yemen.
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