The final vote count has placed Pezeshkian in first place with 16.3 million votes compared to 13.5 million for Jalili. According to Iran’s Ministry of the Interior, 30 million people voted for it.
The reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won on Saturdaythe second round of the Iranian presidential electionsdefeating candidate Saeed Jalili, who promised to get closer to the West and soften the application of the mandatory veil law, after years of sanctions and protests that put pressure on the Islamic Republic.
In his campaign, Pezeshkian did not promise radical changes in Iran’s Shiite theocracy and has long considered that the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the final arbiter of all state affairs in the country. But even Pezeshkian’s modest goals will be threatened by an Iranian government still largely dominated by hardliners, war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Western fears that Tehran is enriching uranium to levels close to purity for nuclear weapons production.
Pezeshkian’s supportersa heart surgeon and longtime legislator, took to the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate their advantage over Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator.
“Dear people of Iran, the elections are over and this It’s just the beginning of our cooperation“Pezeshkian wrote on the social platform X, which remains banned in Iran.
“The difficult path that awaits us will not be easy if it is not with your company, empathy and trust. I extend my hand to you and I swear on my honor that I will not leave you alone on this path. Do not leave me alone.”
Pezeshkian’s victory represents, however, a delicate moment for Iran, with tensions in the Middle East due to the war between Israel and Hamas, the advance of the Iranian nuclear program and the imminent elections in the United Stateswhich could jeopardize any possibility of detente between Tehran and Washington.
This victory was not a defeat for Jalili either.which means that he will have to navigate Iran’s internal politics carefully, since the doctor has never held a sensitive high-level security position, unlike Jalili.
The first round of the June 28 elections registered the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Iranian authorities have long pointed out participation as a sign of support for the country’s Shiite theocracyunder pressure after years of sanctions that have crushed the Iranian economy, massive demonstrations and intense repression against all dissidents.
Government officials, up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted higher participation when voting began, and state television broadcast images of modest queues at some voting centers throughout the country.
According to the authorities, Participation in Friday’s elections was 49.6%, a historically low figure for an Iranian presidential election. Was 607,575 invalid voteswhich are usually a sign of protest from those who feel obliged to vote but reject both candidates.
Pezeshkian, who speaks Azeri, Farsi and Kurdish, has campaigned to reach out to Iran’s diverse ethnic groups. He is the first Iranian president from western Iran in decades.something people hope will help the country, as Westerners consider themselves more tolerant due to the ethnic and religious diversity of their region.
Elections at a time of strong regional tensions
In April, Iran launched its first direct attack against Israel for the Gaza war, while the militias that Tehran arms in the region – such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Yemen Houthi rebels– are involved in the fighting and have recently intensified their attacks.
Iran is also allegedly enriching uraniumto levels close to weaponry and maintains a stockpile large enough to build several nuclear weapons if it so desires. And although Khamenei will continue to be the one who makes the final decisions in matters of stateRegardless of which man ultimately wins the presidency, the country’s foreign policy could shift toward confrontation or collaboration with the West.
The campaign has also repeatedly addressed what would happen if the former president Donald Trump, which unilaterally withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, will win the November election. Iran has held indirect talks with the President’s Administration Joe Bidenalthough there has been no clear progress towards stopping Tehran’s nuclear program for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Although during the campaign he identified with the reformists and relative moderates within the Iranian theocracy, Pezeshkian at the same time honored Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, once wearing his uniform in Parliament. He repeatedly criticized the United States and praised the Guard for shoot down an American drone in 2019stating that he “gave Americans a big punch in the mouth and showed them that our country will not give up.”
He deceased president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, was seen as a protégé of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader. However, he was known to many for his involvement in Iran’s mass executions in 1988 and for his role in the bloody crackdown on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police for allegedly incorrectly wearing the mandatory veil, or hijab.
More than 61 million Iranians over 18 years of age could vote, of which about 18 million were between 18 and 30 years old. Voting was supposed to end at 6:00 p.m., but was extended until midnight to increase participation; even so, only 30 million people voted.
