Reformist leader Masoud Pezeshkian wins Iran’s Presidential Election

After an intense political tussle in Iran, Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won the Middle Eastern nation’s presidential runoff, beating hardliner Saeed Jalili. A vote count offered by the Iranian authorities on Saturday morning put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million.

Pezeshkian gained a lot of attention in Iran after he pledged to ease the country’s draconian and mandatory headscarf law. Pezeshkian not only advocated for moderate policies at home but also pledged to improve ties with the West.

The 69-year-old heart surgeon turned lawmaker delivered a major blow to Jalili’s bid. A former nuclear negotiator, Jalili was touted to be extremely close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran underwent an intense presidential election after former President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, leaving a political vacuum in the Middle Eastern nation.

A reformist who will continue to remain a conservative 

Throughout his presidential campaign, Pezeshkian pledged to bring no radical changes to Iran’s Shia theocracy if he came to power. Not only this, he considers the Iranian Supreme Leader as the “final arbiter” on all matters of the state. Despite all this, Pezeshkian’s modest aims will see a strong challenge from the Iranian government which continues to have a hardliner majority.

The turnout in the presidential runoff stood at 50 per cent which was about 10 per cent higher than the turnout recorded in the first round of the presidential election. Iran’s interior ministry also confirmed that 30.5 million ballots were cast in the second round of polls.

It is pertinent to note that the first round saw a record low in terms of turnout because many Iranians boycotted the elections as an act of protest. However, the prospect of a hardliner coming to power again spurred Iranians to turn up at the polls in slightly larger numbers.

Iran celebrates the win

Supporters of Pezeshkian were seen on the streets of Tehran and other cities across the country to celebrate the win. In the videos that are circulating online, the massive crowd can be seen honking horns, dancing and cheering outside Pezeshkian’s campaign office in Tehran, before dawn.

“The end of the rule of the minority over the majority. Congratulations on the victory of wisdom over ignorance,” Ali Akbar Behmanesh, a reformist politician and head of Pezeshkian’s campaign in the province of Mazandaran, wrote on X, formally known as Twitter.

Meanwhile, some Conservatives pointed out that regardless of who had won, the higher voter turnout was a “victory for the Islamic Republic”. However, Pezeshkian’s win came at a very delicate moment, with the brewing tensions between Iran and Israel over the Gaza crisis.

The Middle Eastern nation has also garnered attention from the West due to its advancing nuclear program. A looming US presidential election could also put any chance of a detente between Tehran and Washington at risk. It will also be interesting to see how the Iranian Supreme Leader and the hardline government formed by Raisi will respond to Pezeshkian’s win.

With inputs from agencies