Iran presidential election goes into runoff' between reformist Pezeshkian and hardliner Jalili

Tehran

Iran's sole reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili will advance to runoffs after securing the highest number of votes in the presidential election, the interior ministry announced on Saturday (June 29).

Pezeshkian received more than 10,400,000 votes, while Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, garnered over 9,400,000 votes, according to Mohsen Eslami, the spokesman for Iran's election authority.

"None of the candidates could get the complete majority of the votes, therefore, the first and second contenders who got the most votes will be referred" for the second round, scheduled for next Friday (July 5), Eslami told during a press conference.

Out of around 61 million eligible voters, some 24,500,000 voters headed to the polls, he added, with a turnout of around 40 percent -- the lowest yet in the history of the Islamic republic.

Also read: Iran presidential elections: Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili in neck and neck battle, as counting underway

Out of Iran's 13 previous presidential elections since the Islamic revolution in 1979, only one led to a runoff, which occurred in 2005.

Conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf received about 3,383,340 votes and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a conservative cleric, got 206,397 votes. 

A total of 1,056,159 spoiled ballots were counted by the election authority.

Notably, elections were originally scheduled for 2025 but were held early following the death of ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.

The Guardian Council, which vets electoral candidates in the Islamic republic, had initially approved six contenders.

Also Read: Iran presidential election: Iranians in India vote in polls; Tehran thanks New Delhi

But a day ahead of the election, two candidates -- the ultraconservative mayor of Tehran Alireza Zakani and Raisi's vice president Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi -- dropped out of the race.

Who are those going into runoff?

Masoud Pezeshkian

Masoud Pezeshkian is a heart surgeon who has represented the northern city of Tabriz in parliament since 2008.

The 69-year-old has served as health minister under Iran's last reformist president Mohammad Khatami, who held office from 1997 to 2005 and has endorsed Pezeshkian's bid in the current elections.

Pezeshkian criticised Raisi's government for a lack of transparency during the nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022.

While in recent campaigning, Pezeshkian called for constructive relations with the United States and European countries in order to get Iran out of its isolation.

Saeed Jalili

Ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, Iran's former nuclear negotiator, has maintained his uncompromising anti-West stance.

The 58-year-old has held several higher positions in the Islamic republic, including in Khamenei's office in the early 2000s.

Jalili is currently one of Khamenei's representatives in the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's highest security body.

In 2001, he was appointed director of policy planning in the Office of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

From 2007 to 2013, Jalili served as the secretary of the country’s top security body and also as the lead negotiator with Western states on Iran's nuclear program.

He ran for the presidency in 2021 but withdrew in favor of Ebrahim Raeisi, who eventually won by a landslide.

(With inputs from agencies)