Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s presidential runoff election on Saturday, defeating hardline candidate Saeed Jalili, promising to open up to the West and ease the enforcement of a compulsory hijab law after years of sanctions and protests against the Islamic Republic.
Pezeshkian did not promise any radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and has long regarded Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all the country’s affairs. But even Pezeshkian’s modest goals will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely controlled by hardliners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Western fears of Tehran’s enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade levels, which it has enough stockpiles to make multiple nuclear weapons if it wanted.
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Pezeshkian received 16.3 million votes in Friday’s election while Jalili received 13.5 million votes, according to vote counts presented by officials. Iran’s Interior Ministry He said 30 million people voted in the election, held without internationally accredited observers, representing a turnout of 49.6% – higher than the historic low of the first round of voting on June 28 but lower than other presidential elections.
Reformist candidate for Iran’s presidential election Masoud Pezeshkian (center) reacts after casting his vote at a polling station in Shahr-e Quds, near Tehran, Iran, on Friday. He is accompanied by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Supporters of Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, took to the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate as his lead grew over Jalili, a hardline former nuclear negotiator. Pezeshkian later visited the mausoleum of the late Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the hardline Islamic revolution. 1979 Islamic Revolutionand addressed reporters in a chaotic event.
“I did not make false promises to you in this election. I did not lie,” Pezeshkian said. “Many years after the revolution, we come on stage, make promises and cannot keep them. That is our biggest problem.”
Pezeshkian’s victory comes as Iran is still passing through a delicate period, with tensions high in the Middle East and elections looming in the US, which could jeopardise any hope of easing tensions between Tehran and Washington. Pezeshkian’s victory was also not a defeat for Jalili, meaning he will have to navigate Iran’s internal politics carefully, as the doctor has never held a sensitive, high-level security position.
Government officials up to Supreme Leader Khamenei predicted a high turnout as voting began, with state television broadcasting images of modest queues at some polling stations. However, online videos showed some polling stations empty, while a survey of several dozen sites in Tehran showed little traffic and a heavy security presence on the streets.
Authorities counted 607,575 rejected votes — often a sign of protest by people who felt compelled to vote but disapproved of both candidates.
Khamenei praised people’s participation in Saturday’s voting, though he accused it of “a boycott campaign carried out by the enemies of the Iranian nation to create a feeling of despair and hopelessness.”
Iranians line up to vote at a polling station in Tehran during a presidential election to choose Ebrahim Raisi’s successor following his death in a helicopter crash. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
Khamenei said, “I would like to advise President-elect Dr. Pezeshkian to trust in the merciful God and set his sights on a higher, brighter horizon.”
Voters expressed cautious optimism.
“I don’t expect anything from him — I’m glad the vote has restrained the radicals,” said bank employee Fatemeh Babaei, who voted for Pezeshkian. “I hope Pezeshkian will bring back governance in a way that everyone can feel there is a tomorrow.”
Taher Khalili, an Iranian of Kurdish descent who runs a small tailor shop in Tehran, gave another reason to be hopeful as he handed out candy to passersby.
“Finally, someone from my hometown and the western region of Iran came to power,” Khalili said. “I hope he will make the economy better for small businesses.”
Pezeshkian, who speaks Azeri, Farsi and Kurdish, campaigned on reaching out to Iran’s many ethnicities. He is the first president to come from western Iran in decades – a move many hope will help the country as people in the west are seen as more tolerant of the region’s ethnic and religious diversity.
The election took place amid regional tensions. In April, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel. War in GazaWhile militia groups armed by Tehran – such as Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels – remain engaged in fighting and have stepped up their attacks.
While Khamenei remains the final decision-maker in state affairs, Pezeshkian can steer the country’s foreign policy toward either confrontation or cooperation with the West.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has reached an agreement with Iran, sent Pezeshkian congratulations, stressing his “eagerness to develop and deepen relations that bring the two countries and peoples together.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has relied on Iranian-made drones in his war against Ukraine, also congratulated Pezeshkian.
Responding to questions from The Associated Press, the State Department described the Iranian election as “not free or fair” and said “a large number of Iranians decided not to participate in the election.”
“We have no expectation that these elections will lead to any fundamental change in Iran’s direction or to greater respect for the human rights of its citizens,” the State Department said. “As the candidates themselves have said, Iranian policy is determined by the supreme leader.”
However, he said he would only pursue diplomacy “if it advances American interests.”
The candidates have repeatedly talked about what would have happened if former President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, had won the election in November. Iran has held indirect talks with President Joe Biden’s administration, though there have been no clear moves toward lifting economic sanctions that have hindered Tehran’s nuclear program.
Pezeshkian’s win helped Iran’s rial strengthen against the US dollar on Saturday, falling to about 603,000 per dollar from about 615,000 on Thursday. At the time of the 2015 nuclear deal, the rial was trading at about 32,000 per dollar.
Though Pezeshkian identified with reformists and relative moderates within Iran’s theocracy during the campaign, he at the same time respected Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on one occasion wearing its uniform to parliament. He has repeatedly criticized the United States and praised the Guard for shooting down an American drone in 2019, saying it “gave a strong punch to the Americans’ mouth and proved to them that our country will not surrender.”
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The late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May that prompted early elections, was seen as Khamenei’s protégé and a potential successor as supreme leader.
Nevertheless, many know him for his involvement in the 1988 mass murder in Iran and his role in the bloody crackdown on dissent following protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. Mahsa Amini is a young woman who was allegedly detained by police for improperly wearing the mandatory hijab.
