Iran has unexpectedly won its presidential election, with reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian, who advocated moderate policies at home and improved ties with the West, winning the runoff election by beating his hard-line rival, the Interior Ministry announced on Saturday morning.
Pezeshkian, 69, a heart surgeon, won 16.3 million votes, defeating hardline candidate Said Djalili, who won 13.5 million, dealing a blow to conservatives and handing a major victory to reformists who have been marginalized in recent years.
Polls closed at midnight, but turnout was 50%, about 10% higher than the first round of some 30.5 million votes cast, which saw the lowest turnout ever as many Iranians boycotted the polls in protest, according to the Iranian Interior Ministry.
But the prospect of a hardline regime that continues to enforce strict social rules, such as requiring women to wear the hijab, and maintain a defiant stance in negotiations to lift sanctions, appears to have slightly boosted Iranian participation in the vote.
Pezeshkian’s supporters took to the streets before dawn on Saturday. According to video footage on social media When election results showed him leading in the initial election, protesters honked, danced and cheered outside campaign offices in many cities, including his hometown of Tabriz. They also Congratulating Iranians on social media They went to the polls to support Pezeshkian’s election slogan, “Save Iran.”
“The era of the minority ruling the majority is over. We celebrate the victory of wisdom over ignorance,” said Ali Akbar Behmanesh, a reformist politician and head of Pezeshkian’s campaign in Mazandaran province. Posted by X (formerly Twitter).
Some of Mr. Jalili’s conservative supporters He said on social media He said that regardless of who won, the high voter turnout was a victory for the Islamic Republic and that he hoped the new government would work to bridge the rifts between political factions.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds the most power in the government, but the president also has influence and can set domestic policy and shape foreign policy, analysts say.
“A reform-minded president, for all his past limitations and failures, would still be quite good and would provide some important constraints on authoritarianism in the Islamic Republic,” said Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East studies at George Washington University.
The by-elections were held following the death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May. Pezechkian’s victory means he will begin a new four-year term.
Iran’s elections are neither free nor fair by Western standards — candidates are vetted by a 12-member Guardian Council made up of six clerics and six jurists — and the government has long viewed voter turnout as a sign of legitimacy.
In Friday’s runoff election, voters were forced to choose between two candidates at opposite ends of Iran’s narrow political spectrum, representing different visions for Iran with ramifications for domestic and regional politics.
In the days before the election, Pezeshkian’s rallies drew larger, younger crowds. Prominent politicians like former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif campaigned for him across the country, telling voters the choice was “day or night.” The message that voters should flock to the polls out of fear of Jalili resonated.
“I’m going to vote because, although not voting will save the Islamic Republic, it will help elect a hardline president that I don’t accept,” Ghazal, a 24-year-old fashion designer who lives in Tehran, said in a phone interview. Like other interviewees, she declined to give her last name to avoid drawing government attention.
Sedighe, a 41-year-old pediatrician in Tehran, also ended his boycott and voted for Pezeshkian on Friday. In a phone interview, he said he doesn’t expect Pezeshkian or any other president to bring about the meaningful changes people want. But he said he voted because “I believe we need small, incremental changes that will make our lives a little better. If we have a president who can or wants to make those small changes, that’s enough for now.”
A veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, Pezeshkian served in parliament for 16 years, including as acting speaker, and was Iran’s health minister for four years. He raised his children as a single father after his wife died in a car accident and has never remarried. That, along with his identity as an Azerbaijani, a member of Iran’s ethnic minority, endeared him to many voters. He campaigned with his daughter by his side at every rally and major speech.
Many conservatives across party lines voted for Pezeshkian, arguing that Jalili was too extreme and would deepen tensions and divisions in the country.
“Jalili will not be able to unite the Iranian people. He will divide us further. We need someone who can bridge these divisions,” said Saeed Hajati, a conservative who said he would vote for Pezeshkian during a town-hall-style meeting Thursday streamed on the Clubhouse app.
Pezeshkian campaigned on a promise to work with his rivals to solve Iran’s many challenges, which he said are too great to overcome due to internal conflict and division. In his final campaign video message, he told Iranians, “I am your voice, the voice of the 60 percent who were not heard and did not vote,” adding, “Iran is for everyone, all Iranians.”
In contrast, Jalili campaigned across the country on a message of defending the ideals of the revolution and taking a defiant stance against Iran’s challenges, including sanctions and nuclear negotiations.
In the days leading up to the vote, several prominent politicians and clerics called Jalili “delusional,” compared him to the Taliban and warned that his election as president would put the country on a collision course with the United States and Israel.
Iranian reformists said Pezeshkian’s election campaign added momentum to their political movement, which had been abandoned by many at home and abroad after being marginalized in the 2021 parliamentary elections and the last presidential election, a year in which leading candidates were eliminated and those who remained faced apathy from voters disillusioned by past reformist presidents who promised but failed to deliver on reforms.
“The reform movement has got a new lifeline in the country and reformists are backing him with all their might,” Ali Asghar Shahrdoost, a former Reform Party lawmaker, said at a town-hall-style meeting streamed live on Clubhouse from Tehran.
Many Iranians have called for an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule through a series of protests, including a women-led uprising in 2022, with crowds chanting “conservatives, reformists, the game is over.”
The government has brutally cracked down on opposition, killing more than 500 people and arresting tens of thousands. The widespread anger and despair is reflected in the fact that half of the eligible voters – some 61 million people – did not vote in this election, believing that voting for the government would be a betrayal of all the victims.
Mahsa, a 34-year-old accountant from Isfahan, refused to vote, saying in a phone interview that he didn’t accept the logic that people have to choose between “bad and worse.” “These elections are government propaganda. It’s a kind of ridiculous mask where a dictator controls everything,” he added.
The list of challenges awaiting the winner is daunting, including an economy weakened by years of sanctions, an increasingly disgruntled electorate and a geopolitical trap that has brought Iran to the brink of war twice this year.
Many Iranians accuse the government of destroying the economy, curbing social freedoms and isolating the country from the world, and the election served as a kind of referendum on the government’s ideologically-driven politics.
During his tenure, Raisi oversaw a strategy to expand Iran’s regional influence and strengthen ties with Russia and China. Iranian-backed militant groups expanded their influence across the Middle East and acquired more advanced weaponry. And after President Donald J. Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, Iran’s nuclear program advanced to weapons-level territory.
As the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip escalates, Iranian-backed militant proxies have opened new fronts against Israel from Yemen to Lebanon. These tensions brought Iran to the brink of war with Israel in April and with the United States in February.
Mr Raisi’s conservative government also faced turmoil at home, with some of the largest anti-government protests in decades sparked by strict enforcement of a compulsory hijab law and fuelled by a deep economic downturn.
Today, Iran’s economy is battered by sanctions, mismanagement and corruption, inflation is soaring and the value of its currency is plummeting.
During an election debate, Pezechkian said he recognized that rebuilding the economy was closely linked to foreign policy, particularly the conflict with the West over its nuclear program, and that he would negotiate to lift sanctions.
“Pezezhkian’s surprise victory shows that a segment of voters realizes that, if there is no hope for a better future, they can at least avoid a worsening situation,” said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group.
Rayleigh Niconazar and Alisa J. Rubin Contributed report.
