DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Reformist candidate Massoud Pezechkian She won Iran's presidential runoff election, beating hardline candidate Saeed Jalili by promising to work with the West and ease enforcement of the country's compulsory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests that have squeezed the country.
Pezeshkian campaigned against any radical changes to Iran's Shiite theocracy, which has long viewed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all national affairs. But even his modest goals will be challenged by a government that remains dominated by hardliners. The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Stripand Western concerns about Tehran. Enrich uranium to near-weapon levels It has a nuclear weapons stockpile large enough to build multiple nuclear weapons if necessary.
Pezeshkian won Friday's election with 16.3 million votes to Jalili's 13.5 million, according to results released by officials. The Interior Ministry said 30 million people voted in the election, held without internationally recognized observers, for a turnout of 49.6 percent, higher than expected for the last election. The lowest number of votes in the first round on June 28th But it's low compared to other presidential elections.
Supporters of Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, took to the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn, celebrating his widening lead. Hardline former nuclear negotiator JaliliPezeshkian later visited the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and addressed reporters amid the chaos.
“In this election, I made no false promises, I didn't lie,” Pezeshkian said. “Years after the revolution, we stood on the platform, we made promises, but we didn't deliver. This is the biggest problem we have.”
More than 50 countries will hold elections in 2024
Pezeshkian's victory reflects the delicate situation Iran remains in, with rising tensions in the Middle East and looming U.S. presidential elections jeopardizing any chance of detente between Tehran and Washington. Pezeshkian's victory was not a landslide victory over Jalili, and he will have to navigate Iran's domestic politics carefully, given that he has never previously held a sensitive, high-level security position.
Government officials Khameni, Supreme Leader Mohammed bin Salman predicted a high turnout as voting began, and state television showed footage of modest lines at some polling stations. But online videos showed some polling stations were empty, and a survey of dozens in Tehran showed light traffic and heavy security on the streets.
Authorities counted 607,575 invalid votes, often a sign of protest by people who felt obliged to vote but rejected both candidates.
Khamenei called Saturday's rally a boycott campaign “orchestrated by the enemies of the Iranian people to stomp on hopelessness and helplessness,” but praised the turnout.
“I encourage President-elect Dr. Pezechkian to trust in a merciful God and set his vision on high and bright horizons,” Khamenei added.
Voters expressed cautious optimism.
A woman casts her ballot in Iran's presidential election at a polling station in the Holy Saleh shrine in Tehran, northern Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iran held a presidential runoff election on Friday, pitting a hardline former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
“I don't expect anything from him. I'm happy that this vote has put a stop to the hardliners,” said Fatemeh Babaei, a banker who voted for Pezeshkian. “I hope he can bring back a government where all the people feel there is a tomorrow.”
Taher Hariri, a Kurdish-Iranian man who runs a small tailoring shop in Tehran, offered another reason for hope as he handed out candy to passersby.
“In the end, someone from my hometown and from western Iran came to power,” Hariri said. “I hope he will improve the economy for small and medium-sized businesses.”
Reformist candidate in Iran's presidential election, Massoud Pezeshkian, escorted by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, clenches his fist after casting his ballot at a polling station in Shahr-e-Quds, near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iranians are voting in a runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in the northwest of the country in May along with the foreign minister and several other government officials. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Pezeshkian, who speaks Azerbaijani, Persian and Kurdish, campaigned on reaching out to Iran's many ethnic groups. He will be the first president from Iran's western region in decades, and people there hope that the region's ethnic and religious diversity will benefit Iran as they see people in the west as more tolerant.
Massoud Pezeshkian, a reformist candidate in Iran's presidential election, waves his hand as he arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Shahr-e-Quds, near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The election took place amid rising tensions in the region. Iran launches first-ever direct attack on Israel The war in Gaza has seen Iran-armed militias such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels join the fighting and intensify attacks.
While Khamenei will retain final say on national issues, Pezechkian could tilt the country's foreign policy towards either confrontation or cooperation with the West.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who achieved detente with Iran, congratulated Pezeshkian and stressed his “eagerness to develop and deepen the ties that bind our two countries and peoples.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has relied on Iranian drones in his war against Ukraine, similarly congratulated Pezeshkian.
In response to questions from The Associated Press, the State Department said Iran's elections were “neither free nor fair” and noted that “a significant number of Iranians chose not to participate in the election at all.”
Iranian presidential candidate Saeed Jalili, a hardline former nuclear negotiator, casts his vote in the presidential runoff election at a polling station in Qarchaq, near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Photo by AP)
“We do not expect this election to lead to a fundamental change in Iran's direction or respect for the human rights of its people,” the State Department added. “As the candidates themselves have stated, Iranian policy is determined by the Supreme Leader.”
But it said the country would pursue diplomacy “when it serves U.S. interests.”
The candidates repeatedly mentioned what would happen if former President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, wins the November election. Iran has been in indirect talks with President Joe Biden's administration but there has been no clear move to again restrict Iran's nuclear program in exchange for economic sanctions relief.
Pezeshkian's victory helped the Iranian rial strengthen against the U.S. dollar on Saturday, dropping to 603,000 against the U.S. dollar from 615,000 on Thursday. The rial was worth 32,000 at the time of the 2015 nuclear deal.
During his campaign, Pezeshkian identified with reformers and relative moderates within Iran's theocracy but also praised Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, at one point appearing in parliament wearing an IRGC uniform. He has repeatedly criticized the United States, praising the IRGC's downing of a U.S. drone in 2019, saying it “dealt a hard punch to the Americans and proved that our country will not bow down.”
Late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May He triggered the early elections and was a protégé of Khamenei and seen as a possible successor to the supreme leader.
Still, he is known to many for his role in Iran's 1988 mass executions and the bloody crackdown on dissidents that followed protests against his death in 2022. Mahasa Amini, a young woman in police custody She was allegedly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab, improperly.
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Vadat reported from Tehran, Iran. Naser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.
