Masoud Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, won the support of Iran’s main reformist coalition.
Tehran:
Iranian reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won the second presidential election on Saturday against ultra-conservative 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, election authority spokesman Mohsen Eslami said, adding that turnout was 49.8 percent.
The number of invalid ballots reportedly exceeded 600,000.
Pezeshkian thanked his supporters who “came to vote with love and wanted 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 progress of the country,” he said on state television.
The elections, held shortly after the death of ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, followed a first round last week marked by historically low turnout.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority, had called for a higher turnout in the second election, stressing the importance of the elections.
He said turnout in the first round was lower than expected, but added it was not an act “against the system”.
The vote comes against the backdrop of heightened regional tensions over the Gaza war, a dispute with the West over Iran’s nuclear program, and domestic discontent over the state of Iran’s sanctions-hit economy.
Reformist support
In last week’s first round, Pezeshkian, the only reformer allowed to run, won the largest number of votes, about 42 percent, while Jalili came second with about 39 percent, according to figures from Iran’s election authority.
Only 40 percent of Iran’s 61 million eligible voters took part 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 Iran’s reformers after years of dominance by the conservative and ultraconservative camps.
Iran’s main reformist coalition backed Pezeshkian, with support from former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, a moderate.
Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, has called for “constructive relations” with Western countries to revive the nuclear deal and “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 amassed a significant base of hardline supporters and received support from other conservative figures.
Ahead of Friday’s runoff, Pezeshkian and Jalili took part in two televised debates in which they discussed low turnout, as well as Iran’s economic problems, international relations and internet restrictions.
Pezeshkian vowed to relax long-standing internet restrictions and to “completely” oppose police patrols enforcing the mandatory headscarf for women, an issue that has received widespread attention since the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022.
The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd had been arrested for an alleged dress code violation and her death sparked months of nationwide unrest.
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