Iran gets a new president in centrist and reformist Masoud Pezeshkian - He defeats harliner Saeed Jalili in an election not monitored by internaitonal observers - He promises to look into the needs of every Iranian - On foreign policy he said the ball is in the western court
Iran gets its new president in centrist Masoud Pezeshkian - He succeeds Ebrahim Raisi who died months ago in a helicopter crash in northern Iran – Difficult path ahead, he says.
The latest news from Iran on the presidential elections and its analysis
BY Ashe N Ayers
Iran got its new president finally in centrist Masoud Pezeshkian who got over 42.5% of the vote share where 30 million reportedly voted in the elections held to fill the vacuum created by the death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May this year.
Pezeshkhian defeated his hardliner rival Saeed Jalili in the elections. He has promised to serve all Iranians. In his first public address since election, the president-elect said in Tehran, Iran's capital, “My victory will usher in a new chapter in the history of Iran."
The president-elect polled some 16 million votes taking 42.5% of the vote share of 30 million voters while his nearest rival hardliner Saeel Jalili got 13.5 million votes. The elections was held without any monitoring by internationally recognised poll oservers.
Centrist Masoud Pezeshkian will be Iran’s next president
Speaking from the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday, Pezeshkian said his victory will “usher in a new chapter” for the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said : I hope yhat your tenure as president eill constitute to a reinforcementy of a constructive bilateral cooperation between our friendly peples.
The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman said : " I affirm my keenness on developing nd deepening the relations between our countries and people and serve our mutual interests".
The President of the UAE said : " Looking forard to working tobgetyher yo further strengthen ties between the UAE and Iran for the benefit of our two nations and peoples".
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said : " We are keen to ensure that our relationship remains at its peak".
Chinas" President Xi-Jinpong said :" I attach great importance to the development of China-Ran relations and am willing wo work with the President to lead China-Iran comprehensive partnership towards deeper advncementy".
“We are ahead of a big trial, a trial of hardships and challenges, simply to provide a prosperous life to our people,” he said during brief remarks at the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Pezeshkian also hailed the relatively high turnout in Friday’s polls, promising to listen to the voices of the Iranian people and “fulfil all the promises” he made.
Seen as a centrist and reformist , Pezeshkian secured nearly 16.4 million of the more than 30 million votes cast, ahead of Jalili who received some 13.5 million, according to the official count. “By gaining [the] majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran’s next president,” the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
Shortly after the announcement, Jalili conceded defeat, saying anybody elected by the people must be respected. “Not only should he be respected, but now we must use all our strength and help him move forward with strength,” he told state television.
There were scenes of celebration after the results were declared, with small groups of Pezeshkian supporters taking to the streets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin led world leaders to congratulate Pezeshkian, but Western leaders were slow to respond.
A bridge’ : Participation in the run-off was 49.8 percent in the tight race between Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in an original field of four candidates who has pledged to open Iran to the world, and the former nuclear negotiator Jalili, a staunch advocate of deepening Iran’s ties with Russia and China.
Fridays votes was a follow-up on a June 28 ballot with an historically low turnout, when more than 60 percent of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. In last week’s election, Pezeshkian received about 42.5 percent of votes and Jalili some 38.7 percent.
Reporting from Tehran on Saturday, Al Jazeera noted that about 50 percent of Iranians did not vote as some didn’t “have faith that the election will bring any change, whether the winner is a conservative or a reformist”. Others boycotted the election, “This is a silent protest.”
Pezeshkian is expected to assume his presidential office in less than 30 days. As he is still a member of parliament from Tabriz, the body has to vote on his resignation. The country’s ninth elected president will next have to be officially endorsed in a ceremony by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after which he will be sworn in at the Parliamen
Pezeshkian repeatedly praised Khamenei during his speech Saturday in what appeared to underpin the fact that the president-elect is aviding a rift with Iran’s political establishment and the ruling elite of clergy. “He once again repeated that he is not the president only for the reformists but also for every Iranian who did not vote for him,” he said. “That is very important, because Iran socially is quite a divided country now and that fragility is a great concern for the political establishment.
“So, now he’s promising to be a bridge between the state and the people,” Al Jazeera said.
The Challenges Ahead : The West sees hew hopes from Iran with Pezeshkian
With the election of the reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian as president, Iran may see a softening of its absolutist foreign policy and even an opportunity for a new diplomatic opening, current and former officials and experts say.
Mr. Pezeshkian, a cardiologist, member of Parliament and former health minister, has little direct experience in foreign policy. But he has pledged to empower Iran’s most elite and globalist diplomats to run his foreign agenda, raising hopes of a warmer relationship with the West.
The New York Times reported in its sunday edition that Mr. Pezeshkian “represents a more pragmatic posture and less confrontational posture toward the outside and the inside,” said Dennis B. Ross, who served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and is a longtime Mideast negotiator.
Still, it noted, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “would do a great deal to limit” Mr. Pezeshkian’s international agenda.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/05/middleeast/pezeshkian-wins-irans-vote-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/reformist-masoud-pezeshkian-wins-irans-presidential-runoff-election-be-rcna160521
NBC news reported that Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has called for "cooperation, empathy and trust" after being declared the winner of Iran’s runoff presidential election Saturday. The win for reformists is a turn from the hardline presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.
Pezeshkian bested hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic.
“Dear people of Iran, the election is over, and this is just the beginning of our working together. A difficult road is ahead. It can only be smooth with your cooperation, empathy and trust,” he po
The CNBC reported key points from the elections as such:
- Iran elected Masoud Pezeshkian to its presidency, in an unexpected victory for the country’s reformist camp amid deep social discontent, economic hardship, and regional war.
- The 69-year-old former minister will serve for four years as the head of government for the Islamic Republic, and faces no shortage of challenges. In its reportage of the elections , the CNBC said thus:
- The 69-year-old Pezeshkian managed to defeat several other candidates, all of whom were stanchly conservative, even as many analysts described him as the “token reformist” and a “second-tier candidate” in the contender pool with little name recognition.
- The most moderate of the candidates, he formerly served as minister of health under Iran’s last reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, from 1997 to 2005, and Khatami among other reformist politicians endorsed him.
- Pezeshkian has also been a member of parliament since 2008, and is a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the vice speaker of parliament. He wants to loosen social restrictions like Iran’s strict hijab law and improve relations with the West, including potentially restarting nuclear talks with world power. ditched the nuclear deal.
Tohid Asadi, a professor at Tehran Unversity, told Al Jazeera that Pezeshkian’s victory showed that many Iranians are interested in “a shift in domestic and foreign policies”. Still, Asadi explained that Iranian politics are “a highly dynamic and complex mechanism” in which the president is only one actor influencing decisions.
On the controversial nuclear deal, he said, “the ball is going to be in the court of the United States and the West” in rebuilding trust among Iran’s political establishment. Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a Tehran-based analyst and professor at Fars Media Faculty, said he was not expecting strategic changes to Iran’s foreign policy.
The foreign policy file, he explained, “is decided by the entire establishment, mostly at the Supreme National Security Council, where [there are] representatives of the government as well as the armed forces, the Iranian supreme leader and the Parliament”.
Much would also depend on the outcome of the US presidential election in November, which will again pit incumbent Joe Biden against Trump. “If Donald Trump comes into office, I don’t really expect any kind of change, any talks between the two sides, or any change in the present course of actions,” Khoshcheshm told Al Jazeera.
In the end, Pezeshkian will be in charge of applying state policy outlined by Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in the country.
Challenges
The president-elect of Iran has enormous challenges to face on the foreign policy front as also on the domestic front, especially from women demanding more religious freedom. His election comes at a crucial time when the US has been alleging its role in the middle east war in backing and training and supplying arms to the militant outfit Hezbollah.
Iran has also long been accused of storing enriched uranium in its covert nuclear power program to make the dirty bomb. The US sanctioned Iran for this. Women had been fighting the compulsory wearing of the hijab or western clothes against the clergy, which had policed the streets and arrested women for violating the religious order.
Raisi was much disliked by the women when he undertook this mission during his presidency.
“We are ahead of a big trial, a trial of hardships and challenges, simply to provide a prosperous life to our people,” the president-elect said during brief remarks at the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Inputs : Al Jazeera
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