Pezeshkian wins runoff vote to become Iran’s 9th president

Masoud Pezeshkian won the runoff presidential elections held on Friday to become Iran’s 9th president, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Saturday.

Out of a total of 30,530,157 votes counted, Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, won 16,384,403 votes, while Saeed Jalili stood behind his rival with 13,538,179 ballots.

Pezeshkian, 69, had served as a lawmaker in the Iranian Parliament for five 4-year terms.

He was also the vice speaker of Iran’s 10th Parliament. The president-elect served as Iran’s minister of health for four years during the administration of then-President Mohammad Khatami.

The early election was held on June 28 across Iran with the participation of four candidates.

Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili won more votes than other hopefuls; meanwhile, the runoff election was planned for a week later as none of the candidates managed to get the majority of votes to become the president of Iran.