Photo credit: Reuters
July 6, 2024
Masoud Pezeshkian, a candidate from the reformist wing, has won the second round of Iran’s presidential election, which was called following Iran’s previous leader, Ibrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter crash in May.
In the second round of the presidential elections, Masoud Pezeshkian received 53.3%, while his opponent, conservative Said Jalili, received 44.3%.
The election was called following Iran’s previous president, Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash in May, killing seven others. A second round of voting was called following no candidate won a majority in the first round on June 28.
After the election results were announced, Pezeschkian thanked his supporters, who came to vote with love and to help the country, AFP reports.
“We will extend the hand of friendship to everyone; we are all people of this country; we must use everyone for the progress of the country,” he said on state television.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Pezeschkian on his election to the presidency on Saturday. The Kremlin’s congratulatory message noted that “Russian-Iranian relations are friendly and good-neighborly in nature,” and that “Moscow and Tehran effectively coordinate efforts to resolve pressing issues on the international agenda.”
The authorities of Saudi Arabia, a long-standing ally of the United States, also congratulated Pezeschkian on his election.
Masoud Pezeshkian, a former cardiac surgeon, criticized Iran’s morality police during the election campaign, which, among other things, enforces the “Muslim dress code” for women.
He also publicly criticized Raisi’s government for failing to properly investigate the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died following being detained by the morality police for violating the dress code. Witnesses to the detention said police beat Mahsa Amini, who then fell into a coma.
In one of his posts on Twitter (now the social network X), Masoud Pezeshkian demanded the creation of an investigative team that would investigate the circumstances of the death of the young Iranian woman.
During the election campaign, Pezeshkian criticized a law dating back to the Islamic Revolution that requires women to cover their heads and necks in public — essentially requiring them to wear a hijab outside the home.
“We are once morest any cruel and inhuman treatment of anyone, but this especially concerns the treatment of our sisters and daughters. We will not allow such actions once morest them,” said Masoud Pezeshkian.
During the election campaign, the president-elect also promised to lift some restrictions on internet use in Iran, where almost all resources that are not physically located in the country are blocked.
On Tehran’s foreign policy, Pezeshkian promised to end Iran’s “isolation” from the rest of the world. Pezeshkian also called for “constructive talks” with the West to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for easing Western sanctions.
“If we can get the sanctions lifted, people’s lives will be better, whereas keeping the sanctions means people will remain in misery,” Pezeschkian said in a television interview during the election campaign.
Conservative Saeed Jalili has advocated maintaining Iran’s status quo. The former nuclear negotiator enjoys strong support among Iran’s most religious communities. Jalili is known for his hardline anti-Western stance and opposes restoring the nuclear deal, which he says crossed Iran’s “red lines.”
Although Pezeshkian is considered a reformist, he is deeply loyal to Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Some experts have previously said that if he is elected, Iran should not expect much more than a softening of the tone towards domestic opposition.
The Iranian president has limited power.
The highest decision-making authority in the Islamic Republic rests with the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Foreign policy is the prerogative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Azerbaijani and Kurd
Masoud Pezeshkian is 69 years old. He was born in the western part of the country, in the province of West Azerbaijan, which is populated mainly by Azeri and Kurdish people. His father is an Azeri of Iranian descent, his mother is Kurdish. Pezeshkian himself speaks Azerbaijani and Kurdish fluently.
After serving in the army, Pezeschkian went to medical school and graduated as a general practitioner. He later continued his education and became a cardiac surgeon.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Pezeshkian worked as a doctor and was responsible for sending medical teams to the front. In 1997, he was appointed deputy health minister in the Mohammad Khatami administration. In 2021, he ran for president, but his candidacy was rejected.
Pezeschkian lost his wife and one child in a car accident in 1993. After his wife’s death, he raised two sons and a daughter alone.
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Voter turnout has increased
Although Iran has 61.5 million eligible voters, only regarding 40% cast ballots in the first round of presidential elections on June 28, the lowest figure since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In the second round, voter turnout was 49.8%. The number of spoiled ballots exceeded 600,000, AFP reports.
Local media outlets also called on people to come and vote.
The reformist daily Sazandegi wrote, “The future is tied to your votes,” while Hammihan wrote, “Now it’s your turn.” The daily Hamshahri, run by the Tehran Municipality, published a piece titled, “100 Reasons to Vote.”
At the same time, the hashtag “traitorous minority” has spread across Iranian social media, calling for people not to vote for any of the candidates and calling anyone who does so a “traitor.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected suggestions that the low turnout reflected rejection of his rule.
“There are reasons [низкой явки]and politicians and sociologists will study them, but if anyone thinks that those who did not vote are anti-establishment, they are clearly mistaken,” he said.
In 2022, Iran was rocked by a huge wave of protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police on charges of violating Iran’s strict dress code.
Human rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed and thousands detained in the crackdown.
