Iran Election 2024: Voters to elect president today as Saeed Jalili, Masoud Pezeshkian in run-off

The run-off round to win the Iranian presidency begins today with conservative Saeed Jalili and reformist Masoud Pezeshkian in the competition amid voters’ boredom and sharp regional tensions.
This final round follows a June 28 ballot when over 60% of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election. Who will win and what change brings is the question being discussed at large by the political analysts?
All the conservatives earlier dropped or were in the run in the first round have already announced their support to Jalili that according to the analysts have chances to win following the given situation of Iran. Pezeshkian’s win is being attributed only with higher turnout of reformists that in first round he failed to attract.
Polls open at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. (1430 GMT), but are likely to have extension in the time until midnight. The final result will be announced on Saturday, although initial figures may come out sooner. Though the poll will have little impact on the Islamic Republic’s policies, the new president will be involved in selecting the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader who is the actual power in the Iranian system of politics and governance.
The new president will be the successor of former president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash last month. Today again a lower turnout is being predicted as was in 2005 when the run-off witnessed a lower crowed than the first round. The voter turnout has plunged over the past four years indicating the peoples’ dissatisfaction with the system, hardline policies and economic fragility of the country.
The supreme leader on Wednesday admitted a lower turnout than expectations but said it was wrong to assume those who abstained in the first round are opposed to the Islamic rule. The run-off in the Iranian presidential election according to the constitution is held among the top two candidates who didn’t win the first round with at least plus 50% from all ballots. The new president is said not to bring a big policy change on the country’s nuclear program or support for groups across the Middle East.
The Guardian Council approved six contenders from an initial pool of 80 that was also containing four female applicants. Out of the six selected applicants two contenders dropped out before the election day. Prominent among the first-round runners were Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Saeed Jalili of the conservative bloc. Following the last Friday election results, reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and conservative hardliner Saeed Jalili were to head each other in this second and final round scheduled. Pezeshkian led Jalili with 44% of the votes while Jalili secured 40 % according to the final official poll results.
On June 28, from among 61.5 million registered voters, 24 million exercised their power of vote making the turnout to just 40 percent. This voters’ decline was historic since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. Iran is going through tensions with Israel and its Western allies following the war in Gaza and the advancement of Iran’s nuclear program. This election was also held two months after Iran and Israel exchanged fire. Israel is now also in second war round with Hezbollah that is Iran’s primary regional proxy, in Lebanon.
Jalili is known internationally for his role in handling the Iranian nuclear file between 2007 and 2012, when he was the country’s uncompromising chief nuclear negotiator. He currently serves as one of Ali Khamenei’s direct representatives on the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), and has unsuccessfully run for the presidency twice before. He is a conservative hardliner and will carry the agenda of Raisi. He opposed the nuclear deal with the West in 2015, and would likely not agree to Western terms, if becomes president. He promises rapid reduce of inflation but how is not known to all yet.
Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, has been a member of parliament since 2008, and was the deputy parliament speaker from 2016 to 2020. He was a health minister in the early 2000s, and has been a longtime member of the Iranian parliament’s health commission. He tried to run for the presidency in 2021, but was disqualified by the Guardian Council. Relatively he is considered as moderate, and is approved by senior reformists within Iran such as former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani.
He promises to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, and opposed the state’s dealing with protests that followed the death of a young woman in police custody in 2022. Even then he confirmed his loyalty to Iran’s system as he didn’t support the antigovernment protests. Jalili and Pezeshkian are supportive of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Jalili was a former member of it and Pezeshkian wore its unform to support it.
However, the supreme leader doesn’t approve the angle of Pezeshkian’s politics and on the election, day stated he condemns those seeking improved relations with the West. It is important to note that on Wednesday in a bustling Tehran prayer hall, Saeed Jalili rallied fervent supporters. His challenger stirred up a crowd in a nearby stadium. In the rallies till Wednesday thousands of Iranians chanted ‘All Iran says Jalili.’ Some analysts are of the opinion that reformist candidate was approved to have a higher turnout to legitimize the credibility of this election. Who wins the race will unofficially get clear till the evening today.
(By Rana Kashif)