Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s solely reformist candidate within the newest presidential election, has risen from relative obscurity to turn out to be the ninth president of the Islamic Republic.
Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old coronary heart surgeon, received round 53.6 per cent of the vote in a .
Within the first spherical of Iran’s snap elections on 28 June, Pezeshkian led the polls towards three different conservative figures, gorgeous supporters and rivals alike.
Pezeshkian’s victory has raised the hopes of Iran’s reformists after years of dominance by the conservative and ultraconservative camps.
He’ll change late ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi who .
“The tough path forward is not going to be clean besides together with your companionship, empathy, and belief. I lengthen my hand to you,” Pezeshkian stated in a put up on social media platform X.
Within the lead-up to the elections, Iran’s major reformist coalition threw its weight behind Pezeshkian, with former presidents Mohammad Khatami and the average Hassan Rouhani declaring assist for his bid.
Who’s Masoud Pezeshkian?
Pezeshkian was born in 1954 to an Iranian father of Turkic origin and a Kurdish mom within the metropolis of Mahabad within the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan.
He has represented Tabriz in Iran’s parliament since 2008, served as well being minister in Khatami’s authorities, and supervised sending medical groups to the struggle entrance in the course of the Iran-Iraq battle between 1980 and 1988.
In 1993, Pezeshkian misplaced his spouse and one among his kids in a automotive accident. He by no means remarried and raised his remaining three kids — two sons and a daughter — alone.
What points has Pezeshkian campaigned on?
Pezeshkian takes over the presidency amid heightened regional tensions over the Gaza struggle, a dispute with the West over Iran’s nuclear program and home discontent over the state of Iran’s sanctions-hit economic system.
Whereas campaigning, Pezeshkian referred to as for “constructive relations” with Western nations to “get Iran out of its isolation”.
Pezeshkian’s major rival within the election was the ultraconservative Saeed Jalil. Supply: Getty / NurPhoto
He pledged to attempt to revive a 2015 nuclear cope with the US and different powers, which imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear exercise in return for sanctions aid.
The deal collapsed in 2018 after Washington withdrew from it.
Inside Iran, he has vowed to ease long-standing web restrictions.
In 2022, he publicly criticised the Raisi authorities over its dealing with of the , who had been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict gown code for ladies.
In latest campaigning, he maintained his stance, criticising the enforcement of obligatory hijab legal guidelines which require ladies to cowl their head and neck in public since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“We oppose any violent and inhumane behaviour in direction of anybody, notably our sisters and daughters, and we is not going to permit these actions to occur,” he stated.
Pezeshkian additionally pledged to contain extra ladies and ethnic minorities comparable to Kurds and Baluchis in his authorities.
He has additionally promised to cut back inflation, now hovering at round 40 per cent, which he says has “crushed the nation’s again” in recent times.
In a single debate with Jalili, Pezeshkian estimated that Iran wants $200 billion in international funding, which he stated might solely be supplied by mending ties the world over.
What are his powers?
In contrast to in lots of nations, Iran’s president just isn’t head of state, and the final word authority rests with the supreme chief — a put up held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for 35 years.
As president, Pezeshkian will maintain the second-highest rating place and can affect each home and international coverage.
Setting financial coverage will probably be inside his powers.
Iran’s president just isn’t its head of state, and supreme authority rests with Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Supply: AAP / Vahid Salemi/AP
Nevertheless, he may have restricted energy over the police, and just about none over the military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the navy’s ideological arm.
The police, military and IRGC all reply on to the supreme chief.
Pezeshkian will probably be tasked with implementing state insurance policies outlined by Khamenei.
What challenges does he face?
Maziar Khosravi, a political analyst and journalist, stated the brand new president “didn’t promise a direct decision to issues” in Iran.
Analysts say Pezeshkian will face severe challenges as a result of conservatives nonetheless dominate state establishments.
One such establishment is parliament, which was elected in March and is dominated by conservatives and ultraconservatives.
Iran’s federal elections confronted a historic low voter turnout, at round 40 per cent, one thing critics of Iran’s clerical rule stated had demonstrated that the system’s legitimacy had eroded. Supply: AAP / Stringer/EPA
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who ran within the first spherical of the election, backed Jalili within the runoff.
Two different ultraconservatives who dropped out a day earlier than the primary spherical additionally backed Jalili.
“Coping with the problem of hijab or some other ideological matter is out of the fingers of the president,” political commentator Mossadegh Mossadeghpoor stated, noting that it is a spiritual matter.
Ali Vaez of the Worldwide Disaster Group says Pezeshkian will face an uphill battle to safe “social and cultural rights at residence and diplomatic engagement overseas”.
On the nuclear situation, Mossadeghpoor stated Pezeshkian might be able to “resolve it if it’s the system’s will”.
Diplomatic efforts to revive the 2015 cope with Washington and Europe have faltered through the years.
“Nobody ought to anticipate Iran’s method to international coverage to basically change,” stated Khosravi.