Reformist Pezeshkian wins Iranian presidential run-off

KABUL (Pajhwok): Reformist runner Masoud Pezeshkian has won the presidential run-off, an official of the Iranian election panels said on Saturday.

With all the 30.530 million ballots counted, Pezeshkian secured at least 53.6 percent — 16.384 million — of the votes to stake a claim to the presidency.

Saeed Jalili, his conservative challenger, won 44.3% of the vote, or 13.538 million ballots, Islamic Republic’s Election Office spokesman Mohsen Eslami announced.

The state-run TV channel quoted him as putting the voter turnout in Friday’s runoff at 49.8 percent.

“By gaining majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran’s next president,” the interior ministry confirmed.

The Associated Press reported Pezeshkian’s supporters had entered the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn on Saturday to celebrate his anticipated victory.

On June 28, more than 60 percent of Iranian voters stayed from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash.

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, has promised constructive ties with Western countries to revive the nuclear agreement to “steer the country out of isolation.

PAN Monitor/mud

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