The election comes 50 days after President Ebrahim Raisi of the hardline Islamic conservative faction died in a helicopter crash.
Iran’s electoral authority announced on July 6 that Masoud Pezeshkian of the regime’s “moderate” faction has won the presidential election in the Islamic Republic.
The election came 50 days after President Ebrahim Raisi of the hardline Islamic conservative faction, accompanied by numerous officials, died in a helicopter crash, leaving his first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, as interim president. Before the crash, an election hadn’t been due until 2025.
The presidency isn’t the most powerful position in Iran’s Islamic theocracy. As the chief executive and leader of the government, the president is appointed by election, but supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who remains the head of the state and holds ultimate power as the Islamic Republic’s political and religious leader, oversees the nation’s security forces, clerics, judiciary, media, education, and foreign and economic policy.
Under the constitution of Iran’s Shiite theocracy, the supreme leader also has a life tenure. The state is ruled in accordance with Islamic or Sharia law.
In the results announced by the Iranian government, Mr. Pezeshkian received 53.6 percent of the votes (16.3 million ballots), while hardliner rival Saeed Jalili was said to have secured 44.3 percent of the votes (13.5 million ballots).
Mr. Jalili, 58, was Iran’s top nuclear negotiator under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2007 to 2013. Mr. Ahmadinejad, after he was barred from running, said he was no longer supporting any candidate in the election.
Mr. Pezeshkian posted on social media platform X after his victory was announced, even though the social media platform is banned in Iran.
“Dear people of Iran, the elections are over and this is just the beginning of our cooperation,” he wrote. “The difficult path ahead will not be smooth except with your companionship, empathy and trust. I extend my hand to you and I swear on my honor that I will not leave you alone on this path. Do not leave me alone.”
