Reformist Massoud Pezeshkian elected new president

Reformist Massoud Pezeshkian has been elected Iran’s new president, defeating hardline conservative rival Saeed Jalili.

The vote was declared in Dr Pezeshkian’s favour after he won 53.3% of the more than 30 million votes counted. Mr Jalili won 44.3%.

The second round of elections takes place after no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first round. first round of elections on June 28, with a record low voter turnout of 40%.

The election was called after former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi killed in a helicopter crash in May, in which seven others died.

Even before Iran’s Interior Ministry announced the final results, Dr Pezeshkian’s supporters took to the streets in Tehran and several other cities to celebrate.

Videos posted on social media showed mostly young people dancing and waving his campaign’s signature green flag, while passing cars honked their horns.

Dr Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon, has criticised Iran’s notorious morality police and caused a stir after promising “unity and cohesion” and an end to Iran’s “isolation” from the world.

He also called for “constructive talks” with Western powers on renewing the faltering policy. 2015 nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of Western sanctions.

His opponent, Saeed Jalili, supports the status quo. The former nuclear negotiator enjoys strong support among Iran’s most religious community.

Mr Jalili is known for his hardline anti-Western stance and opposition to reviving the nuclear deal, which he says crosses Iran’s “red lines”.

Turnout in the latest round of voting was 50% – higher than the first round last week, when turnout was the lowest since the 1979 Islamic revolution amid widespread discontent, but still low.

Widespread discontent led millions to boycott the election.

The lack of choice among candidates, dominated by hard-line Islamists, and the impossibility of real change while the supreme leader retains tight control over policies have further frustrated them.

Some people who did not vote in the first round were persuaded to vote for Dr Pezeshkian this time to prevent Mr Jalili from becoming president.

They fear that with Mr Jalili’s victory, Iran will be headed for more confrontation with the outside world and that he will only bring more sanctions and isolation to Iran.

To be elected, both candidates must pass a vetting process run by the Guardian Council, a body of 12 clerics and jurists that holds considerable power in Iran.

That process eliminated 74 other candidates from the race, including several women.

The Guardian Council has previously been criticized by human rights groups for eliminating candidates who were not sufficiently loyal to the regime.

After years of civil unrest – culminating in anti-regime protests that rocked the country in 2022-23 – many young and middle-class Iranians are deeply suspicious of the current regime and have previously refused to vote.

ABOVE Iranian social mediaThe Persian hashtag “traitorous minority” went viral, calling on people not to vote for any candidate and calling anyone who did so a “traitor”.

But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected the idea that low voter turnout represents a rejection of his right to rule.

“There are reasons [behind the low turnout] and politicians and sociologists will look at them, but if anyone thinks that those who do not vote are against the current regime, they are completely wrong,” he said.

In a rare move, he acknowledged that some Iranians do not accept the current regime. “We listen to them and we know what they are saying and it is not like they are hiding and not being seen,” Mr Khamenei said.

In Iran, local media have encouraged people to go to the polls.

Reformist daily Sazandegi said “the future depends on your vote” while the Hammihan newspaper said “now it’s your turn”.

The city-run Hamshahri newspaper published an article headlined “100 reasons to vote”, while the state-run Jaam-e Jam newspaper said Iran was “waiting for the people”.