In a snap election in Iran, reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocated moderate policies at home and better relations with the West, has won the second round of the presidential election, beating his hard-line rival, the Interior Ministry announced Saturday morning.
Mr. Pezeshkian, 69, a heart surgeonHard-line candidate Saeed Jalili won 16.3 million votes, a blow to the conservative faction and a major victory for the reformist faction, which had stayed out of politics in recent years. Jalili won 13.5 million votes.
By the time polls closed at midnight, turnout stood at 50 percent, about 10 percentage points higher than in the first round, with about 30.5 million ballots cast, according to Iran’s Interior Ministry. The first round saw a record low turnout as many Iranians boycotted the vote in protest.
However, the prospect of a hardline administration that would redouble its efforts to enforce strict social rules, including making the hijab mandatory for women, and remain defiant in negotiations to lift sanctions, apparently prompted Iranians to turn out in slightly higher numbers.
Mr Pezeshkian’s supporters took to the streets before dawn on Saturday, According to video footage posted on social media and his campaign, honking, dancing and cheering outside his campaign offices in many cities, including his hometown, Tabriz, when early results showed he was leading. took to social media to congratulate Iranians for going to the polls to “save Iran,” Mr. Pezeshkian’s campaign slogan.
“The end of the rule of the minority over the majority. Congratulations on the victory of wisdom over ignorance,” said Ali Akbar Behmanesh, a reformist politician and head of Mr. Pezeshkian’s campaign in Mazandaran province. in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Some of Mr Jalili’s conservative supporters said on social networks that, regardless of who won, the high turnout was a victory for the Islamic Republic, and that they hoped the new administration would work to heal divisions within political factions.
Although Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wields most of the power in government, analysts say the president is not without influence and can set domestic policy and shape foreign policy.
“A reformist president, despite all the limitations and failures of the past, would still be significantly better – in a significant way, he would put some limit on the authoritarianism of the Islamic Republic,” said Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at George Washington University.
The special election was held because Former President Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash in May. With Mr. Pezeshkian’s victory, a new four-year term will begin.
Elections in Iran are neither free nor fair by Western standards, and candidate selection is tightly controlled by the Guardian Council, a committee appointed by 12 people, including six clerics and six jurists. The government has long viewed voter turnout as a sign of legitimacy.
In the second round of elections held on Friday, voters faced with a choice The showdown was between two candidates from opposite ends of the Iranian political spectrum, who represented different visions of Iran, with implications for domestic and regional politics.
In the days leading up to the election, Mr. Pezeshkian’s campaign rallies drew larger and younger crowds. Prominent politicians, such as former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, campaigned for him across the country and told voters that they had a choice between “day and night.” The message that voters should go to the polls out of fear of Mr. Jalili resonated.
“I will vote because if I don’t vote, the Islamic Republic will not be overthrown, but it will contribute to electing a radical president that I don’t accept,” Ghazal, a 24-year-old fashion designer, said in a telephone interview from Tehran. Like others interviewed, she declined to be quoted by her last name so as not to attract government attention.
Sedigheh, a 41-year-old pediatrician in the capital Tehran, also ended her boycott and voted for Pezeshkian on Friday. She said in a telephone interview that she had no hope that he or any other president could deliver the significant changes that people are demanding. However, she said: “I voted because I think we need small, incremental changes that make our lives a little bit better, and if there is a president who can or wants to make those small changes, that’s enough for now.”
A veteran After serving 16 years in the Iranian parliament during the Iran-Iraq war, Mr. Pezeshkian served as deputy speaker of parliament and health minister for four years. After his wife died in a car accident, he raised his children alone and never remarried. That, along with his identity as an Azerbaijani, one of Iran’s ethnic minorities, endeared him to many voters. He campaigned with his daughter at his side at every rally and major speech.
Many conservatives crossed partisan lines and voted for Mr. Pezeshkian because they believed Mr. Jalili was too extreme and would risk deepening tensions and divisions in their country.
“Mr. Jalili cannot unite Iranians; he will divide us further, and we need someone who can bridge those divides,” said Saeed Hajati, a conservative who said he was voting for Mr. Pezeshkian during a town hall-style meeting Thursday that was broadcast on the Clubhouse app.
Mr. Pezeshkian campaigned on a promise to work with his rivals to solve the many challenges Iran faces, because they are too formidable to be overcome through infighting and division. In his final video campaign message, he told Iranians: “I am your voice, even the voice of the 60 percent whose voice is never heard and who did not show up to vote.” He added: “Iran belongs to everyone, to all Iranians.”
By contrast, Mr. Jalili campaigned across the country on the message that he would preserve revolutionary ideals and remain defiant in the face of Iran’s challenges, including sanctions and nuclear negotiations.
In the days leading up to the vote, many politicians and clerics called Mr. Jalili “delusional,” compared him to the Taliban and warned that his presidency would put the country on a collision course with the United States and Israel.
Reformers in Iran said Mr. Pezeshkian’s election campaign was a boost for their political movement, which many inside and outside the country had sidelined because they were marginalized in parliamentary elections and the last presidential election, in 2021. That year, competitive candidates were disqualified, while those who remained faced apathy from voters disappointed by how past reformist presidents promised change but failed to deliver.
“The reformist movement has found new life in the country, and reformists have come with all their strength to support it,” Ali Asghar Shaerdoost, a former Reform Party MP, said during a live town hall-style rally broadcast on Clubhouse from Tehran.
Many Iranians have called for an end to Islamic Republic rule in waves of protests, including a 2022 uprising led by women in which crowds chanted: “Conservatives, reformists, the game is over.”
The government has brutally repressed dissent, killing more than 500 people and arresting tens of thousands more. Widespread anger and loss of hope were reflected in the fact that half of the electorate, some 61 million, did not vote in the election, believing that a vote for the government would be a betrayal of all the victims.
Mahsa, a 34-year-old accountant from Isfahan, said in a telephone interview that she refused to vote and did not believe the logic that she had to choose between “worse and worse.” She added: “I see this election as government propaganda – a kind of ridiculous mask behind which everything is controlled by a dictator.”
A daunting list of challenges awaits the winner: a struggling economy weakened by years of sanctions, a frustrated electorate and geopolitical pitfalls that have brought Iran to the brink of war twice this year.
Many Iranians blame the government for ruining the economy, limiting social freedoms and isolating the country from the rest of the world. The election served as a referendum of sorts on the government’s ideological policies.
During his tenure, Mr. Raisi oversaw a strategy to expand his country’s regional influence and strengthen ties with Russia and China. Iran-backed militant groups have expanded their reach and acquired more sophisticated weapons across the Middle East, and the The country’s nuclear program has reached the threshold of weaponsThe day after the resignation of President Donald J. Trump exit the 2018 nuclear deal.
As war rages between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Iranian-backed militias have opened new fronts against Israel from Yemen to Lebanon. These tensions brought Iran to the brink of war with Israel in April and with the United States in February.
Mr Raisi’s conservative government has also faced domestic upheaval: some of the biggest anti-government protests in decades, sparked by strict enforcement of the hijab law and fuelled by a severe economic crisis.
Now Iran economy The country has been hit by sanctions, mismanagement and corruption. Inflation has soared and the value of the currency has plummeted.
Mr. Pezeshkian said in the election debates that he recognized that fixing the economy was inextricably linked to foreign policy — namely the standoff with the West over the nuclear program — and that he would negotiate to lift sanctions.
“Pezeshkian’s surprise victory means that large sections of the electorate are aware that even if they cannot hope against hope for a better future, they can at least avoid a further worsening of their situation,” said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group.
Leily Nikounazar And Alissa J. Rubin contribution to the report.
