Masoud Pezeshkian was elected as Iran’s new president.
Pezeshkian won the election race by securing 16.384.403 of the votes while Saeed Jalili, his rival, managed to secure 13.538.179 of the votes, according to an announcement made by Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for Iran’s election headquarters.
Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili were the two candidates who secured the most votes in the snap presidential election on June 28.
The gap between the two candidates was more than two million votes in the end.
Pezeshkian would replace Ebrahim Raeisi, who embraced martyrdom during a helicopter crash in Iran’s northwestern mountainous region on May 19.
Pres. elect Pezeshkian asks for unity, continued support
Iran’s president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian says he will “extend the hand of friendship to everyone” in his first remarks since being declared winner of a runoff vote against former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
“We will extend the hand of friendship to everyone; we are all people of this country; we should use everyone for the progress of the country,” Pezeshkian said on national television on Saturday after winning the election runoff, according to Press TV.
Later, he took to X to thank the Iranian people for putting their trust in him, pledging not to let them.
“Dear people of Iran, the elections are over and this is just the beginning of our togetherness. 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. Don’t leave me alone.”
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi also thanked the people for their participation in the vote and congratulated Pezeshkian on the victory.
“Thanks God, the 14th presidential election ended in full security, soundness and serious competition of candidates and the participation of over 30 million people of Iran, and the ninth president of Iran was elected.
“Mr. Masoud Pezeshkian was elected as the head of the 14th government, and I would like to congratulate him,” he said.
Vahidi touched on wrong analyses and efforts made to suggest that elections in Iran had no meaning, saying the results put the seal on the invalidity of such claims.
He thanked everyone who worked to create a positive atmosphere, foremost the people for their participation and Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei “who defined a framework based on the four components of security, health, competition and participation and facilitated the election process with his guidelines”.
The minister also thanked senior clerics for recommending people to vote as well as families of martyrs, especially late President Ebrahim Raeisi.
“The government of Ayatollah Raeisi was true to his promise and we learned from him to work within the framework of the intentions of the Eminent Leader of the Revolution.”
Who is Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian?
Get to know Iran’s newly-elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Masoud Pezeshkian is an Iranian reformist politician who represented Tabriz, Osku, and Azarshahr electoral district in the Parliament of Iran, and also served as its First Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2020.
He was Minister of Health between 2001 and 2005 under President Mohammad Khatami.
A cardiac surgeon by training, Pezeshkian previously also served as the chancellor of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and currently is a member of the academic staff at the prestigious university in northern Iran.
He previously ran for the presidency in 2013 and 2021 but both times failed to make headway.
Pezeshkian officially joined the campaign for the top executive office on June 1, the third day of registration, at the Interior Ministry in Tehran, accompanied by a group of supporters.
