Pezeshkian’s Election Win Is a Double Loss for Iran’s Conservatives

Pro-reform campaigner and long-time parliamentarian Masoud Pezeshkian emerged arsenic nan victor of Iran’s intimately contested runoff statesmanlike predetermination past Friday, bagging astir 53 percent of nan votes, compared to 44 percent for blimpish hard-liner and erstwhile main atomic negotiator Saeed Jalili. With each nan likelihood stacked against him, fewer governmental pundits initially expected Pezeshkian would prevail erstwhile he was included among nan vetted candidates for nan first-round ballot successful precocious June. Most early study and moreover immoderate nationalist sentiment polls indicated nan imaginable triumph of existent Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf aliases other Jalili successful nan first information aliases nan runoff.

But surprises are not unprecedented successful Iran’s statesmanlike elections. Pezeshkian owes his triumph successful ample portion to nan surge successful turnout from astir 24.5 million, aliases astir 40 percent of eligible voters, successful nan first round to 30.5 million, aliases astir 50 percent, successful nan runoff stage. The 6 cardinal further ballots successful nan runoff shape look to person been mostly formed for Pezeshkian, who went from winning 10.4 cardinal votes successful nan first information to 16.4 cardinal successful nan runoff stage. By contrast, Jalili’s ballot count accrued from 9.5 cardinal successful nan first information to 13.5 million, astir balanced to nan mixed votes of nan blimpish candidates successful nan first round.

This surge successful turnout was fueled by nan polarized prime betwixt nan 2 candidates who made it done to nan runoff round. Jalili’s ideological blimpish position presented a crisp opposition to Pezeshkian’s reformist and pragmatic governmental discourse. Unlike Ghalibaf, who identifies pinch Iran’s blimpish but pragmatic governmental factions, Jalili represents nan puritan revolutionary fringes of Iran’s blimpish governmental camp, whose home governmental and overseas argumentation discourses fought much sharply pinch those of Pezeshkian.