Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, the two candidates who placed first in the early presidential elections on June 28, presented themselves for the second round on July 5. According to the final vote count, Pezeshkian was elected the new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran with 16,384,403 votes, compared to 13,538,179 votes received by Saeed Jalili, i.e. 53.6% of the total of 30,530,157 votes. The turnout was 49.8%.
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.
MASOUD PEZESKIAN
A heart surgeon by profession, Pezeshkian’s political debut was as the country’s deputy health minister and later as health minister.
In 2006, Pezeshkian won a parliamentary mandate, representing the city of Tabriz, and later he became the deputy speaker of the parliament. He was described by many as an “independent” politician. He speaks fluently, as foreign languages, both Kurdish and Azerbaijani.
He has pledged to promote a pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over now stalled negotiations with major powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and improve prospects for social liberalization and political pluralism.
The political debates were mainly centered on the domestic situation and the economic problems of the people. Externally, it is believed that Pezeşkian will be much more open to negotiations with the Western powers, compared to his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, and the second runner-up in the elections, Saeed Jalili.
In the relations between Iran and Russia it is expected to see a similar trend as before. A strategic approach but with reservations on both sides. Regarding relations with China, it must be said that currently trade with the Asian power is more than 50% of the total imports and exports of the Islamic Republic. The extent to which these relationships will expand and amplify depends on the ability of politicians to transform this economic cooperation into real progress in the lives of citizens. Otherwise, the prospect of rapprochement with the West can be expected to be much more tempting.
Of course, all these are more conjunctural estimates because the real domestic and foreign policies, the real practical measures and the general direction of his administration, we will see in the coming months. To what extent he will be able to implement reforms remains to be seen. In the majlis (Iranian parliament) the conservatives have a majority, occupying 162 seats out of 290, while the camp of reformers and moderates totals only 40 MPs. The rest are unaffiliated and representatives of minorities.
The president’s powers include signing treaties and agreements with other countries and international organizations, managing national planning, the budget and state affairs, and appointing ministers, all of which require parliamentary approval. For any movement, Pezeshkian needs the cooperation of the parliament, which for the next 4 years will be dominated by conservatives.