A reformist and an ultraconservative will face off in a runoff election on Friday, with neither candidate securing the majority of votes needed to win the presidency in a first round plagued by record voter turnout and dissatisfaction with the political establishment.
The July 5 election, held a year early because of the death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May, will decide whether reformist candidate Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian or hard-liner Saeed Jalili takes over the presidency of a country beset by a crippled economy, domestic protests and foreign policy challenges.
In the first round, 60 percent of eligible voters either did not show up to vote or cast blank ballots, in protest against the ruling establishment, which they consider inefficient and incapable of solving Iran’s internal and international problems.
Dr. Pezeshkian received more than 10.4 million votes (42.4 percent) of the approximately 24 million cast, and Saeed Jalili received 9.47 million (38.6 percent).
Although Dr. Pezeshkian received the majority of votes in the first round, it is unclear who will emerge victorious on Friday. The third-place candidate, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, who received 13.8 percent of the vote in the first round, supported Jalili, but earlier polls indicated that many of Ghalibaf’s supporters would not support Jalili.
Here’s what you need to know about Dr. Pezeshkian and Mr. Jalili:
Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian
Dr. Pezeshkian is a cardiac surgeon and veteran of the Iran-Iraq War who served in Parliament and as Iran’s health minister.
Reformist candidates were largely disqualified from the 2021 presidential election and parliamentary elections held in March. Experts say the Guardian Council, the governing body that decides which candidates can run, likely allowed Dr. Pezeshkian to run to boost voter turnout after many Iranians boycotted the March parliamentary election. The government sees high voter turnout as crucial to the perceived legitimacy of the election.
Dr. Pezeshkian, an Azeri, one of Iran’s ethnic minorities, has received the backing of former President Mohamed Khatami. The candidate has expressed a willingness to engage in nuclear negotiations with the West, framing the debate as an economic issue. U.S.-led sanctions over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program are currently crippling the country’s economy.
Dr. Pezeshkian has a history of outspokenly criticizing the government and denounced the violent enforcement of mandatory hijab laws after protests over the 2022 death of an Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, swept the country.
Saeed Jalili
Jalili is an ultra-conservative former nuclear negotiator, nicknamed “the living martyr” after losing a leg in the Iran-Iraq war. He represents the country’s most radical ideological positions on domestic and foreign policy.
Mr. Jalili, who is close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he believes Iran does not need to negotiate with the United States to achieve economic success.
His position on the issue presents a “totally unrealistic” assessment of Iran’s economic capabilities to the public, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iran expert and dean of the College of Arts, Sciences and Education at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
“He is firmly opposed not only to any nuclear agreement, but to any kind of opening in the West,” Boroujerdi said.
