Moderate Pezeshkian takes reins of Iran, defeats hardliner Jalili in runoff

Dubai, July 6

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election on Saturday, besting hardliner and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests.

He will replace hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.

Supporters of Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and long-time lawmaker, entered the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate as his lead grew over Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator.

Modi extends wishes

Congratulations @drpezeshkian on your election as the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Looking forward to working closely with you to further strengthen our warm and long-standing bilateral relationship for the benefit of our peoples and the region. — Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Pezeshkian was announced the winner with 16.3 million votes, while Jalili managed to receive 13.5 million. Iran’s Interior Ministry said 30 million people voted in the election held on Friday and put the turnout at 49.6 per cent, still historically low for an Iranian presidential election.

Although he promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and has long held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state, even his modest aims are likely be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hardliners.

Additionally, Pezeshkian’s win sees Iran at a delicate moment, with tensions high in the Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war, Iran’s advancing nuclear programme, and a looming election in the United States that could put any chance of a detente between Tehran and Washington at risk. The new president elect will have to carefully navigate Iran’s internal politics as the doctor has never held a sensitive, high-level security post.

“I don’t expect anything from him – I am happy that the vote put the brake on hard-liners. I hope Pezeshkian can return administration to a way in which all people can feel there is a tomorrow,” said bank employee Fatemeh Babaei, who voted for Pezeshkian.

The campaign also repeatedly touched on what would happen if former President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, won the November election. Iran has held indirect talks with President Joe Biden’s administration, though there’s been no clear movement back toward constraining Tehran’s nuclear program for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Addressing journalists in a chaotic event at the mausoleum of the late Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Pezeshkian said, “In this election, I didn’t give you false promises. I did not lie. It’s been many years after the revolution that we come to the podium, we make promises and we fail to fulfil them. This is the biggest problem we have.” — AP

Difficult path ahead amid Israel-Hamas tension

• Pezeshkian’s win sees Iran at a delicate moment, with tensions high in the Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war, Iran’s advancing nuclear programme, and a looming election in the United States that could put any chance of a detente between Tehran and Washington at risk.
• Although he promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign, even his modest aims are likely to be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hardliners.
• The new president-elect will have to carefully navigate Iran’s internal politics as the heart surgeon and long-time lawmaker has never held a sensitive, high-level security post.