A citizen is seen in front of posters of candidates for the 14th presidential election on the street ahead of early presidential elections in Tehran, Iran on June 27, 2024.
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Iran will hold its next presidential election on July 5, Iran’s Interior Ministry said Saturday after neither of the two leading candidates won more than 50% of the vote in Friday’s poll. Six.
The vote to replace Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash took place in a tense race between the only moderate candidate among four candidates and the supreme leader’s protege. .
With more than 24 million votes counted, moderate lawmaker Massoud Pezeshkian leads with more than 10 million votes, far ahead of hard-line diplomat Saeed Jalili by more than 9.4 million votes, according to provisional results released by the ministry. This announcement.
Power in Iran ultimately rests with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, so the outcome would not signal any major policy shifts on Iran’s nuclear program or its support for militant groups across the Middle East.
But the president runs the government on a day-to-day basis and can influence Iran’s policy stance.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said earlier Saturday that a runoff election would “very likely” choose the next president.
If no candidate wins at least 50% plus one vote from all ballots cast, including blanks, a runoff between the two candidates with the highest number of votes will be held on the first Friday after the results are announced.
The election coincides with escalating regional tensions due to the war between Israel and Iranian allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as growing Western pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. this country’s rapid development.
While the election is unlikely to bring about a major change in policy in the Islamic Republic, its outcome could influence the succession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader who has been in power since 1989.
Clerical authorities want high voter turnout to compensate for a legitimacy crisis caused by public discontent over economic hardship and restrictions on political and social freedoms.
The next president is not expected to bring about any major policy changes on Iran’s nuclear program or support for militia groups across the Middle East, as Khamenei calls the shots on all high-level issues. gorvernment’s.
Supporters of Saeed Jalili, a candidate for the June 28 presidential election, shout slogans during his campaign rally in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 24, 2024. Jalili is one of six approved candidates for the June 28 election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash.
Majid Saeedi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
However, the president is the person who runs the government on a day-to-day basis and can influence Iran’s domestic and foreign policy.
Pezeshkian’s views contrasted with Jalili’s, which favored détente with the West, economic reform, social liberalization, and political pluralism.
A staunch anti-Westerner, Jalili’s victory would signal the possibility of an even more confrontational turn in the Islamic Republic’s domestic and foreign policy, analysts say.
Limited choices
The election was a contest between a tightly controlled field of three hardline candidates and a moderate candidate loyal to the supreme leader. The hardline watchdog approved only six of the original 80 candidates, and two hardline candidates later dropped out.
“Based on unconfirmed reports, the election is likely to go into a second round… Jalili and Pezeshkian will compete in a runoff election,” Tasnim reported.
Critics of the clerical body say low voter turnout in recent years suggests the system’s legitimacy has been eroded. Voter turnout was 48% in the 2021 presidential election and a record low of 41% of voters in March’s congressional elections.
All candidates vow to revive a weakening economy beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions re-imposed since 2018, after the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear pact with Tehran.
“I think Jalili is the only candidate who raised the issues of justice, fighting corruption and bringing dignity to the poor. … Most importantly, he did not link Iran’s foreign policy to the nuclear deal,” said Farzan, a 45-year-old artist in the city of Karaj.
Voters are divided
Pezeshkian, loyal to Iran’s theocratic rule, is backed by a reformist faction that has been largely marginalized in Iran in recent years.
“We will respect the headscarf law, but there must never be any violation or inhumane treatment of women,” Pezeshkian said after the vote.
A man gestures as he holds up a small election flag during a campaign rally by reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian at Afrasiabi Stadium in Tehran on June 23, 2024 ahead of the upcoming Iranian presidential election.
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He was referring to the death in 2022 of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, while in custody of the morality police for allegedly violating the mandatory Islamic dress code.
The unrest sparked by Amini’s death has become the largest protest against Iran’s clerical rulers in years.
Pezeshkian has been trying to rekindle enthusiasm among reform-minded voters who have largely stayed away from the polls over the past four years as a largely young population chafed at political and social restrictions. He could also benefit from his opponents’ failure to consolidate the hard-line vote.
Over the past few weeks, Iranians have widely used the hashtag #ElectionCircus on X, with some activists at home and abroad calling for a boycott, saying that high voter turnout would only serve to legitimize the Islamic Republic.
