Iran Presidential Run-Off: Who Is Masoud Pezeshkian? Moderate Who Beat Hardliner Saeed Jalili In First Round
Iran's presidential election goes to a run-off on July 5 as no candidate secured majority in first round. Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, who supports nuclear deal & women's rights, will face hardliner Saeed Jalili.
Iran Election News: With no candidate securing a majority in the June 28 presidential election, necessitated after Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash last month, Iran will vote again on July 5 to elect its new president. The first round of voting recorded the lowest ever turnout since the 1979 Iran revolution, according to reports. However, though none of the candidates received 50% and one vote, mandatory under the Iranian law to secure a victory, the contest saw a reformist beating a hardliner in terms of total votes polled.
All eyes are now on the July 5 run-off to see if moderate lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian is able to maintain the lead over Saeed Jalili, considered a protégé of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
There were four candidates in the Friday election.
Quoting figures shared by Iran's interior ministry, media reports said Pezeshkian received around 10.5 million votes, out of the total around 25 million ballots counted, followed by Saeed Jalili who polled around 9.5 million votes. The two other candidates, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, got 3.38 million votes, and 2.06 lakh votes, respectively, and are out of the race. Iran's Guardian Council, a constitutional body and the election watchdog, had approved two more candidates — Alireza Zakani and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi — to stand in the election but they dropped out ahead of the polling.
According to an Al Jazeera report, Ghalibaf, Zakani, and Ghazizadeh have urged their supporters to vote for Jalili on July 5 to ensure the “revolution front” emerges victorious.
Masoud Pezeshkian was the sole moderate among the six candidates.
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Who Is Masoud Pezeshkian?
Lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, is a cardiac surgeon who has also served as the country's health minister in the past. He is known for his pro-reforms outlook — in contrast to that of Raisi who was close to Khamenei — but also supports the theocratic rule in Iran.
"We will respect the hijab law, but there should never be any intrusive or inhumane behaviour toward women," the media reports cited above quoted Pezeshkian as saying after the Friday vote.
It was under Raisi's leadership that laws were tightened to enforce women's dress code.
According to an analysis by news agency Reuters, Pezeshkian could draw votes from the supporters of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the current speaker of Iran Parliament who finished third in the first round of polling. It is believed that his first round votes came from the young population looking for a change in the country's social, political, and economic conditions, and that they may vote for them again on July 5.
Pezeshkian is a prominent politician and has the support of past reformist and centrist presidents of the country, and other eminent personalities.
During his election campaign, he promised to bridge the gap between the authorities and the public, and also restore the 2015 nuclear deal that was struck down by then US President Donald Trump in 2018.
Pezeshkian even appointed Mohammad Javad Zarif, former foreign minister who had played a big role in the 2015 nuclear deal, as his foreign policy adviser, and the move was endorsed by former President Mohammad Khatami.
In what appeared to be a reference to Pezeshkian and his Zarif move, Khamenei was quoted as saying in a speech last week that anyone "who is attached to America...will not be a good colleague for you".
The hardliners are opposed to revival of the nuclear deal, and they accuse Zarif of compromising with the interests of Iran to secure the deal in 2015.
However, Pezeshkian has openly advocated engaging with the West to revive the deal, and also for greater outreach to the world powers to improve the economy.
Belonging to the Azeri ethnic minority, Pezeshkian has been a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran since 2008, and was the health minister from 2001 to 2005 during Khatami's second term as president. He has in the past voiced his support for the rights of ethnic minorities, and criticised the suppression of dissent, including in 2022 when Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman arrested for alleged violation of a law restricting women's dress code, died in custody of the country's morality police.
According to reports, he served as both a combatant and a physician during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s.
In 1994, Pezeshkian's wife died in a car accident that also claimed the life of one of their children. He never remarried, raising alone his three other children — two sons and a daughter.
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What Powers Will Masoud Pezeshkian Have If Elected Iran President?
Iran has a dual system of clerical and republican rule, and all powers rest with the Supreme Leader. However, the president gets to manage day-to-day governance, and hence can influence policy decisions to some extent. The supporters of Pezeshkian, therefore, see him as a president who could bring certain changes to the theocratically ruled Iran.
The election comes at a time when Iran is facing a lot of discontent among the people due to economic hardships amid over 40% inflation due to alleged mismanagement and sanctions imposed by the United States. People are also against the curbs put on personal freedom, and Friday's low voter turnout is an indication towards this discontent.
It is also a time when regional tension is escalating amid the war in Gaza and Lebanon involving Israel and Iranian allies Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively.
Pezeshkian, during his campaign, promised a pragmatic foreign policy, and said he would work towards easing tensions with the West over the country's nuclear programme.
However, since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, still remains all powerful when it comes to shaping policies, not many Iranians believe Pezeshkian will be able to fulfil his poll promises.
"I want reforms but Pezeshkian cannot improve the situation. I will not vote," the Reuters report cited above quoted a local teacher as saying, who also said he believed the former minister will have "zero" powers as the president to work on the promises he made during his campaign.
Quoting analysts, the report said Pezeshkian's promise in interviews and TV debates that he won't contest Khamenei's policies would further alienate the young voters and the urban middle class that now seek more than just reforms, as they challenge the entire clerical rule of the Islamic Republic.
A proof of this was found in 2022 when Iran saw how people took to the streets in a massive show of opposition after Mahsa Amini's death. The country had not seen in many years an unrest of that scale, spanning months.
Pezeshkian had then demanded a clarification from the authorities about Mahsa Amini's death.
However, it is unlikely that he will be able to do much as the president. At a recent meeting in Tehran University, he was asked a question about certain students arrested for their links to protests against the government. As quoted by Reuters, he replied: "...political prisoners are not within my scope, and if I want to do something, I have no authority."
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Masoud Pezeshkian's Prospects Against Saeed Jalili In Presidential Run-Off
Saeed Jalili, seen as a protégé of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reflects the latter's strong anti-Western stance. The former nuclear negotiator is said to have nurtured presidential ambitions for some time now.
As the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Jalili was part of the nuclear negotiations that continued for nearly a decade and ultimately led to the United Nations Security Council imposing sanctions in 2010.
A landmark accord was finally reached in July 2015 between Iran and several world powers, including the United States. Under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear agreement was formally known as, Iran was to dismantle much of its nuclear programme and agree to more extensive inspections by international bodies in lieu of sanctions relief worth billions of dollars.
As the JCPOA imposed restrictions on the civilian nuclear enrichment programme of Iran, Jalili has blamed the Pezeshkian camp for compromising the programme to strike the 2015 deal. Trump scrapped the deal in 2018, calling the accord "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made", and reimposed the sanctions.
Tehran soon resumed its nuclear activities, gradually enriching uranium to higher, weapons-grade concentrations and sparking an international alarm, as reported by the United Nations in 2023.
After coming to power, President Joe Biden had said that the United States would return to the table on the JCPOA if Iran ensured compliance. However, there has been little progress in the matter since even as the sanctions continue.
Quoting analysts, Reuters reported that if Jalili won it might mean a more antagonistic turn in Iran's foreign and domestic policies. They said 85-year-old Khamenei will have to choose a successor soon, and would hence want a loyal president who will be closely involved in the process.
Ahead of the July 5 run-off, Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian will take part in a series of presidential debates, which will be televised live, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Both will get 30 minutes each to deliver a live speech on Wednesday, July 3. Prior to that, there will be two live debates lasting two hours each on July 1 and 2, when Jalili and Pezeshkian will take questions from the presenter and experts.
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