In an election upset in Iran, the reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocated for moderate policies at home and improved relations with the West, won the presidential runoff election, beating his hard-line rival, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday morning.
Mr. Pezeshkian, 69, a cardiac surgeon, got 16.3 million votes to defeat the hard-line candidate, Saeed Jalili, delivering a blow to the conservative faction and a major victory for the reformist faction that had been sidelined from politics for the past few years.
Mr. Jalili received 13.5 million votes.
After polls closed at midnight, turnout stood at 50 percent, about 10 percentage points higher than in the first round of the election with about 30.5 million ballots cast in total, according to Iran’s interior ministry.
The first round saw a record-low turnout because many Iranians had boycotted the vote as an act of protest.
Persons:
Masoud Pezeshkian, Pezeshkian, Saeed Jalili, Jalili
Organizations:
West, Ministry of Interior
Locations:
Iran