Reformist candidate Masud Pezeshkian and ultra-conservative Said Jalili They will compete for the presidency of Iran on July 5, after leading the results of the first round, marked by the lowest participation since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
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“None of the candidates obtained an absolute majority” in the first round this Friday, so there will be a runoff between the two most voted on July 5, Mohsen Eslami, spokesman for the electoral office of the Ministry of the Interior, told the press on Saturday. .
Of the 24.54 million ballots counted, MP Masud Pezeshkian received 10.41 million votes, or 42%, and Said Jalili, who was involved in international negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, 9.47 million, or 38%. Of the 14 presidential elections held since the 1979 Islamic revolution, only one has been decided so far in the second round, in 2005.
Both candidates were clearly ahead of conservative parliament speaker Mohamed Bagher Ghalibaf with 3.38 million votes and fourth-placed candidate Mostafa Purmohammadi, the only religious candidate in the race, with 206,397 votes. Jalili won Ghalibaf’s support for the second round on Saturday.
“I call on all revolutionary forces and my followers” to try to “elect the candidate of the revolutionary front,” he declared.
Two other conservative candidates, who abandoned the race before the first round, called to vote for the ultra-conservative candidate.
The ‘titanic’ work that the reformist Pezeshkian will do
To win the elections, Pezeshkian will have to rely on a mobilization of abstentionists determined to block Jalili. But the task does not appear to be easy: of the 61 million voters called to the polls on Friday, only 40% voted. Some opponents, particularly members of the Iranian diaspora, had called for a boycott of the elections.
The supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most important position in the political and religious structure of the Islamic Republic, had urged the population to participate in the vote. During the 2021 presidential elections, in which no reformist or moderate candidate had been authorized, the abstention rate reached 51%, which at the time was a record.
The elections had to be organized hastily after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19. These elections attract international attention because Iran, a heavyweight in the Middle East, is at the center of several crises, from the war in Gaza to the issue of its nuclear program.
The Iranian president has limited powers and is responsible for implementing the main political lines outlined by Khamenei at the head of the government.
A runoff election in Iran with very different candidates
The second round will pit two candidates against each other with very different profiles and programmes. Pezeshkian, the 69-year-old reformist candidate, is a deputy from Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran. His government experience is limited. He served as health minister from 2001 to 2005. during the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami.
The candidate became known for his frankness when expressing himself, and did not hesitate to criticize the power during the protest movement that shook the country after the death of the young Mahsa Amini in September 2022 under police detention, for allegedly failing to comply the strict dress code imposed on women.
With his discreet appearance, this doctor of Azerbaijani origin advocates rapprochement between Iran and Western countrieswith the United States at the helm, to lift the sanctions that are severely affecting the economy.
Said Jalili, on the other hand, is in favour of a hardline policy towards Western powers. The 58-year-old candidate demonstrated this during the six years he participated in the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme, between 2007 and 2013. He also advocates tough policies on issues such as the wearing of the veil by women.
Throughout his career, Jalili rose to key positions thanks to the trust of Ayatollah Khamenei. He is currently one of two representatives of the Supreme National Security Council, the country’s highest security body.
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