Iran's Interior Ministry announced that reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian won Saturday's presidential runoff election, defeating ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili.
Election authority spokesman Mohsen Eslami said Pezeshkian received more than 17 million votes and Jalili more than 13 million out of a total of around 30 million cast, adding that turnout was 49.8 percent.
The election, called early following the death of ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, came after turnout in the first round of voting last week was the lowest on record.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had stressed the importance of the elections and called for high voter turnout in the runoff elections.
He added that while turnout in the first round was lower than expected, it was not an act “against the system.”
The vote came against a backdrop of rising regional tensions over the Gaza war, a standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear program and domestic discontent over the state of Iran's sanctions-hit economy.
According to figures from Iran's election authority, Pezeshkian, the only reformist candidate allowed to run, won the first round of voting last week with about 42 percent of the vote, while Jalili came in second with about 39 percent.
Just 40 percent of Iran's 61 million eligible voters took part in the first round of voting, the lowest turnout in a presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A relative unknown until recently, Pezeshkian's candidacy has raised hopes among reformists in Iran, a country long dominated by conservatives and ultra-conservatives.
Iran's main reformist coalition backed Pezeshkian, along with former President Mohammad Khatami and moderate Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani.
Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, called for a “constructive relationship” with the West to revive the nuclear deal and bring Iran out of isolation.
The 58-year-old Jalili is a former Iranian nuclear negotiator and is widely known for his uncompromising anti-Western stance.
He attracted many hard-line supporters during the campaign and received support from other conservative figures.
Ahead of Friday's runoff election, Pezeshkian and Jalili took part in two televised debates in which they discussed low voter turnout, Iran's economic problems, international relations and internet restrictions.
Pezeshkian vowed to ease long-standing internet restrictions and to “totally” oppose police patrols that force women to wear compulsory headscarves, an issue that has come under scrutiny since the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd had been detained for allegedly violating the dress code and her death sparked months of nationwide unrest.
