Reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian has won the second round of Iran’s presidential election, ahead of ultraconservative Said Jalili, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
Pezeshkian, a former nuclear negotiator, received more than 16 million votes, compared to more than 13 million for his opponent, out of a total of 30 million ballots already counted, according to election authorities. Turnout was 49.8%.
The election is being closely watched abroad as Iran, a Middle Eastern heavyweight, is at the heart of several geopolitical crises, from the war in Gaza to the nuclear issue, in which it opposes Western countries, notably the United States, its sworn enemy.
Organised in haste after the death of ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on 19 May, the presidential election is taking place in a context of popular discontent, particularly over the state of the economy, which has been hit by international sanctions.
After a first round marked by a high level of abstention, some 61 million Iranians were called to the polls on Friday in the country’s 58,638 polling stations.
Having come out on top in the first round with 42.4% of the vote, Mr Pezeshkian advocates for an Iran more open to the West. Mr Jalili, who obtained 38.6% of the vote, is known for his inflexible positions towards Western powers.
Mr Pezeshkian, 69, has received support from former presidents, reformist Mohammad Khatami and moderate Hassan Rohani.
His rival, 58, has the support of Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the conservative speaker of parliament, who came third with 13.8% of the vote in the first round.
Turnout in the first round a week ago reached 39.92% of the 61 million voters, its lowest level in 45 years of the Islamic Republic.
Opposition figures in Iran and in the diaspora have called for a boycott of the vote, saying the conservative and reformist camps represent two sides of the same coin.
“Changing things”
At a polling station in Tehran, Hossein, 40, said Friday that he had chosen Mr. Pezeshkian because he “can change things.” Farzad, 52 — who like Hossein did not want to give his last name — made the same choice, to “prevent the access to power of the radicals” ultraconservatives.
“We have been shouting death to America for 45 years, that’s enough, […] “We cannot build a wall around the country,” he insisted.
Melika Moghtadaie, dressed in a black chador, had opted for Mr. Jalili. The 19-year-old student is counting on him to “help improve the country’s economy.”
In two televised debates, the candidates addressed the country’s economic woes, its international relations, low voter turnout and government restrictions on the internet.
The reformist candidate, who claims loyalty to the Islamic Republic, called for “constructive relations” with Washington and European countries in order to “bring Iran out of its isolation.”
A nuclear negotiator between 2007 and 2013, Mr. Jalili had firmly opposed the agreement finally concluded in 2015 between Iran and world powers, including the United States, which imposed restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity in exchange for an easing of sanctions.
Nuclear negotiations are currently at an impasse following the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018, which reimposed severe economic sanctions on Tehran.
The election is expected to have limited repercussions, as the president has only limited powers: he is responsible for implementing, at the head of the government, the broad political guidelines set by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the head of state.