Iran’s presidential election | A reformer wants to create a surprise

(Tehran) Some 61 million Iranians are called to the polls on Friday for a presidential election whose outcome looks uncertain due to the breakthrough of a reformer in the face of divided conservative candidates.

Voting begins at 8 a.m. (12:30 a.m. Eastern Time) at 58,640 polling stations spread across the vast country, from the Caspian Sea in the north to the Gulf in the south.

This election had to be organized hastily after the death of President Ebrahim Raïssi in a helicopter crash on May 19.

It is closely followed abroad while Iran, a heavyweight in the Middle East, is at the heart of several geopolitical crises, from the war in Gaza to the nuclear issue, in which it opposes Western countries.

Four candidates, men in their fifties and sixties, are in the running.

If none of them wins more than half the votes, a second round will be held on July 5, which has only been the case in one presidential election, in 2005, since the advent of the Islamic Republic 45 years ago.

Official results are expected no later than Sunday, but estimates are expected to be released on Saturday.

“Honest and caring”

The surprise could come from the only reform candidate, Massoud Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old lawmaker who was virtually unknown when he was allowed to run by the Guardian Council, the authority responsible for overseeing elections.

Discreet in appearance, but speaking frankly, this doctor of Azeri origin, a minority in north-west Iran, has given hope to the reformist and moderate camps, totally marginalized in recent years by the conservatives and ultraconservatives.

He is “honest, fair and caring,” said former reformist president Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), who called for a vote for him, like former moderate president Hassan Rohani (2013-2021).

Opposing him, the supporters of the current power are divided between the candidates Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, conservative president of Parliament, and Saïd Jalili, former ultraconservative negotiator on the nuclear issue and hostile to a rapprochement with the West.

To hope to win, Massoud Pezeshkian must count on a strong increase in participation compared to the last elections, shunned by around half of the voters.

Only 49% of them voted in the 2021 presidential election, for which no major reform or moderate candidate was allowed to compete.

Opponents, particularly those in the diaspora, have called for a boycott of the vote.

Whatever the outcome, the election is likely to have limited repercussions, as the president has limited powers: he is responsible for implementing, as head of government, the broad political guidelines set by the supreme leader, who is the head of state.

Question of the veil

For the latter, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “the most qualified candidate” to be president should be “the one who truly believes in the principles of the Islamic Revolution” and allows Iran “to advance without being dependent” on foreign countries.

However, he clarified that the country should not “cut off its relations with the world”.

During the debates, ultraconservative Said Jalili criticized the moderates for signing the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal with the major powers, which “did not benefit Iran at all.”

“Are we supposed to be eternally hostile to America or do we yearn to resolve our problems with this country? “, asked Mr. Pezeshkian, calling for a relaunch of the nuclear agreement in order to lead to a lifting of the severe sanctions which are affecting the Iranian economy.

Furthermore, the very sensitive issue of the compulsory wearing of the veil for women has emerged in the campaign, almost two years after the vast protest movement that shook the country at the end of 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for non-compliance with the dress code.

In the televised debates, the candidates distanced themselves from the police arrests, sometimes heavy-handed, of women refusing to wear the hijab in public places.

“Under no circumstances should we treat Iranian women with such cruelty,” said Mustafa Pourmohammadi, the only religious candidate.