Iran: Masoud Pezeshkian Wins Presidential Election

Masoud Pezeshkian emerged the winner in Iran’s runoff presidential election on Friday, being elected as the Islamic Republic’s 9th president.

The final results of the presidential runoff election were announced by the country’s election headquarters after the completion of the counting of votes early on Saturday.

Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, the two candidates who secured the most votes in the June 28 snap presidential election, were vying for the top executive office of the Islamic Republic.

According to the final vote count announced on Saturday morning, Pezeshkian was elected as the new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The eighth and final update was issued by the election headquarters at 6:45 AM (03:15 GMT). The first update came at 2:35 AM local time (23:05 GMT).

Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for Iran's election headquarters which runs under the auspices of the country’s interior ministry, said Pezeshkian prevailed over his opponent, Jalili.

Of the total 30,530,157 votes counted, Pezeshkian garnered 16,384,403 votes while Jalili trailed behind with 13,538,179 ballots.

Nearly 50 percent of the eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots in the second round of the election.

More than 24,535,000 votes had been cast in last week’s polls, translating into a turnout of 39.92 percent.

The new administration, the 14th one after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, will hold office for four years.

The election took place a year ahead of schedule, as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi passed away in May.

A helicopter carrying President Raisi and his entourage crashed in northwestern mountainous forests on May 19, killing the president, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and six others.