Masoud Pezeshkian Wins Iran’s Presidential Election

Tehran, MINA – Veteran parliamentarian Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran’s presidential election runoff, Iran’s Ministry of Interior announced.

The victory concluded a tight competition where voter turnout surged at polling stations on Friday.

Pezeshkian received over 16 million votes against former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili’s over 13 million out of more than 30 million votes cast, election authorities reported, as reported by Press TV.

“By obtaining the majority of votes on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran’s next president,” Iran’s Ministry of Interior said.

The second-round election on Friday was held after the first round on June 28 saw no candidate securing more than 50% plus one vote.

The presidential election was held to find a successor to the late President Ebrahim Raeisi, who lost his life along with his foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and others in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran.

Pezeshkian initially ran against five candidates last week, winning the highest number of votes but failing to secure a majority, thus advancing him and Jalili to the second round.

In his first message after the election victory, Pezeshkian thanked Iranian citizens who came out to vote “with love and assistance” for their country.

“We will extend a hand of friendship to everyone. We are all citizens of this country. We must utilize everyone for the progress of the nation,” he said on national television.

Election authorities estimated the turnout for the second round election to be around 50%.

A cardiac surgeon by profession, Pezeshkian entered politics first as deputy minister of health and later as minister of health.

In 2006, Pezeshkian was elected as a parliament member representing Tabriz in northwest Iran. He later served as deputy speaker of parliament, described by many as an “independent” politician, a label embraced by Pezeshkian in his campaign. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)