Masoud Pezeshkian wins Iran's presidential election

Iran reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and lawmaker promising outreach to the West, has won the presidential run-off, defeating his rival Saeed Jalili, state television reported and Interior Ministry confirmed.

A vote count offered by authorities early on Saturday put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili's 13.5 million in Friday's election.

More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 were eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 to 30. Voting was to end at 6 pm [local time] but was extended until midnight to boost participation.

Both Pezeshkian and Jalili contested to replace the 63-year-old late President Ebrahim Raisi died in a May 19 helicopter crash that also killed the country’s foreign minister and several other officials.

Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran's theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country.

Delicate moment

Supporters of Pezeshkian entered the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate as his lead grew over Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator.

But Pezeshkian's win still sees Iran at a delicate moment, with tensions high in the Mideast over the Israel's war on the Gaza.

Both candidates had struggled to convince a sceptical public to cast ballots in the first round of voting that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history.

Government officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted a higher participation rate as voting got underway, with state television airing images of modest lines at some polling centers across the country.

Iran's presidential elections came amid heightened regional tensions. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza.

Tehran's is reportedly enriching uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so, according to Western estimates.

The poll campaign also repeatedly touched on what would happen if former president Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, won the November election.

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Source: TRT