Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian heart surgeon and reformist contender, was announced as the winner of Iran’s runoff presidential election on Saturday. After a period of sanctions and protests that strained the Islamic Republic, he vowed to re-engage with the West as well as ease enforcement of the obligatory veil law. Hard-liner Saeed Jalili, Pezeshkian’s rival in this election, lost to him.
According to Iran’s election body, Pezeshkian garnered over 17 million votes while Jalili managed more than 13 million votes out of approximately 30 million votes cast during these elections. The voter turn-out for this election was at a staggering low; only 49.8%.
Throughout his campaign, Pezeshkian has avoided promising any radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy. He has unfailingly acknowledged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final authority in all state matters.
Still, Pezeshkian’s humble goals are likely to meet opposition from an Iranian government still largely dominated by hardliners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza Strip and Western worries about Tehran’s nearly weapon-grade uranium enrichment.
Earlier on that day, supporters of Pezeshkian took over streets in Tehran and other urban areas as his lead over conservative former nuclear negotiator Jalili increased.
The first round of voting held on June 28 had witnessed one of the lowest participation rates since Iran became an Islamic Republic following its 1979 Islamic Revolution. That is a sign according to Iranian leadership which maintains that it indicates support for its Shiite-led system under duress from decades-long economic sanctions, wide-spread protestation and repression even towards dissenting voices within that country.
In Friday’s vote results released by authorities showed that Pezeshkian received 16.3 million ballots while Jalili got 13.5 million votes.
The elections came after President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May and was widely believed to be one of Khamenei’s most trusted advisors and mentees. Analysts also expected Raisi to become the next Supreme Leader.
However, Raisi’s reputation has been tainted by his role in the mass execution of 1988 in Iran. Furthermore, he played an important part in suppressing violent protests after the arrest of Mahsa Amini who had been apprehended for not wearing her compulsory hijab correctly.
