Masoud Pezeshkian wins Iran's presidential election in tight race
Veteran parliamentarian Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran's runoff presidential vote, the interior ministry says, bringing a conclusion to a tight race that saw voters swell polling stations on Friday.
Pezeshkian received more than 16 million votes against former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili with more than 13 million out of over 30 million votes cast, electoral authorities said.
"By gaining a majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran's next president," the interior ministry said.
The runoff on Friday followed a June 28 ballot in a snap election to find a successor to President Ebrahim Raeisi who lost his life with his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran.
Pezeshkian originally ran against a field of five candidates last week, winning the largest number of votes but falling short of a majority which sent him and Jalili to a second round.
Profile: Masoud Pezeshkian, the president-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran https://t.co/sfSJAays4S #IranVotes2024
— Iran Election 2024 (@PressTVElection) July 6, 2024
In his first message after the election win, Pezeshkian thanked Iranians who came to vote "with love and to help" the country.
Electoral authorities put participation in the runoff election at around 50 percent.
A heart surgeon by profession, Pezeshkian entered politics first as the country's deputy health minister and later as the health minister.
In 2006, Pezeshkian was elected as a lawmaker representing Tabriz in northwest Iran. He later served as a deputy parliament speaker described by many as an “independent” politician, a label that was embraced by Pezeshkian in the campaign.
Scandalous detention of Iranians by US to extort information
Iran says own aircraft used for 'responsible' pullout from Syria
‘Fridays of Rage’: Iranians rally against Israeli atrocities, silence of supporters
VIDEO | Austrians arrested at Gaza protest in Vienna
10 killed in bus crash in western Iran
5 Israeli forces killed as Palestinian fighters face up to regime’s war machine
VIDEO | An insider's view of the country: Persian Tahini, Royan in Mazandaran
VIDEO | Israeli settler killed during strike against Tel Aviv; fresh aggression targets Yemen’s capital
VIDEO | Yemen’s missile strikes on Tel Aviv
Iran to open 6 GW of new power capacity by next summer
VIDEO | South Korean rallies set the stage for battle over Yoon's impeachment
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
