Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has won the second round of the presidential election in Iran, according to the Election Commission. The moderate candidate, aged 69, won 53.6% of the vote against ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili with 44.3%, in an election that saw a turnout of 49.9%, with 30,573,931 votes. A surgeon, former health minister and parliamentarian, Pezeshkian will become the ninth president in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will succeed the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter accident in May.
Iran’s president-elect was a little-known politician at the start of the campaign, but has been gaining popularity with a message of moderation, rapprochement with the West and criticism of the veil. He has managed to unite the vote of discontent with Raisi’s policies, under whose mandate social and political repression increased. At the same time, his campaign has fueled fear of Jalili, an ultra-conservative with a reputation for being “intransigent.” Pezeshkian will become the first reformist president in years in the country, at a time of strong regional tensions due to the war in Gaza, but also within Iran due to the lack of freedoms. However, both candidates are loyal to the regime, which has controlled the election of the candidates for the post, so there is no sign of a change in a power apparatus in which the last word is held by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian president has decision-making power in domestic matters and to a lesser extent in foreign and security policy, where the supreme leader acts as head of state with broad powers.
The vote also involved the participation of the 61 million Iranians who were called to vote. 49.8% of the electorate voted, which is a significant increase from 39.9% in the first round. This figure was the highest abstention rate in the history of the Islamic Republic and revealed the discontent of a part of the population with the political system established by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
After the results were made official, Pezeshkian offered a message of conciliation. “We will extend the hand of friendship to everyone. They are all from this country. We must use them all for progress. They are our brothers,” he said on state television in his first statements.
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