Masoud Pezeshkian won the second round of early Iranian presidential elections. The IRNA agency reports this.
According to official data, almost 16.4 million voters voted for Pezeshkian, and 13.5 million voted for his rival Said Jalili. The turnout, as Iranian government agencies write, was 49.8%.
Masoud Pezeshkian is 71 years old and is a cardiac surgeon by profession. The BBC calls him a “supporter of reform.” During his election campaign, the candidate criticized the actions of the morality police, promised to end Iran's isolation from other countries and called for «constructive negotiations» with the West.
His rival Said Jalili, on the contrary, is known for his anti-Western position and enjoys the support of the conservative part of Iranian society.
In the first round of the presidential elections, both candidates received approximately 40% of the votes, with the necessary at least 50%. Iranian oppositionists living abroad called for a boycott of the vote.
Snap presidential elections in Iran were announced after the crash of a helicopter carrying the country's President Ebrahim Raisi. Along with Raisi, on the evening of May 19, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and several other officials were killed in the province of East Azerbaijan.
The President of Iran is elected for a term of four years; one person cannot hold this post for more than two terms in a row. Masoud Pezeshkian will perform mainly representative functions. Key decisions in Iran are made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.