STORY: :: Moderate Masoud Pezeshkian is named winner of Iran's presidential election
:: Mohsen Eslami, Election headquarters spokesman
"Mr. Masoud Pezeshkian had 16,384,403 votes and Mr. Saeed Jalili had 13,538,179 votes. Based on this Mr. Masoud Pezeshkian is introduced as the elected person of the 14th round of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Presidential Election."
:: July 6, 2024
:: Tehran, Iran
Iran's interior ministry announced Pezeshkian as the winner of Friday's runoff vote against hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
The 69-year-old cardiac surgeon has pledged to promote a pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over now-stalled negotiations with major powers to revive a 2015 nuclear pact and improve prospects for social liberalization and political pluralism.
However many Iranians are skeptical about his ability to fulfil his campaign promises as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not the president, is the ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic.
Turnout was almost 50% in Friday's vote, following historically low turnout in the first round ballot on June 28, when over 60% of Iranian voters abstained. The election was called after President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May.
