Cardiac Surgeon, Reformist Pezeshkian Wins Iran Presidential Race Defeating Hard-Liner Saeed Jalili

Dubai: Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist candidate, a surgeon and longtime lawmaker has won Iran's runoff presidential elections on Saturday, July 6, defeating hard-liner Saeed Jalili by a margin of 2.8n million votes as per the official vote count, AP reported. 

The vote count offered by authorities showed Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili's 13.5 million in Friday's election.

After years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic, Pezeshkian in his bid has promised to reach out to the West and ease enforcement of the country's mandatory headscarf law.

He further promised no radical changes to Iran's Shiite theocracy in his campaign, long held by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. 

However, even Pezeshkian's modest aims are expected to be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels.

The first round of voting was held on June 28, which saw the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

Over 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 were eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 and 30. Voting was to end at 6 pm but was extended until midnight to boost participation among the citizens. 

The presidential election came amid the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash and heightened regional tensions in the region.

 Meanwhile, in April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.

Iran is also enriching uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so. 

(Inputs from AP)