The Iranians have a fresh president. He's a reformist.
Iran has chosen a fresh president. The second circular of elections was won by a reformer camp candidate – Masud Pezeszkan, winning 53% of the vote and thus defeating Jalili (conservative).
It was a very interesting election, and Peseškan turned out to be their black horse. For longer comments there will be a time, but for this minute it is worth stressing that the muslim Republic – even going through the legitimacy crisis – was able to run the presidential elections smoothly after Raisi's death and to guarantee an election turnout of 49.8% in the second circular (and so 1pp more than in 2021) – which is simply a large surprise.
The choice of a reformer candidate does not necessarily mean that we will see a return in IRI's abroad policy. The specificity of the IRI strategy means that the president does not make abroad policy himself. Time will show how much Peseškhan will be able to push his ideas into the highest National safety Council – “the smith” of muslim Republic politics.
Pezekhan's election means that he will most likely return to the position of abroad Minister Jawad Zarif – he held this position in president Rowhani's government and participated in the “nuclear negotiations” with the West, and in fresh weeks he became powerfully active in the election run on the side of Pezekhan. Zarif is simply a very efficient diplomat. Iran's MFA would definitely benefit from his return to the resort.
Soon a longer text devoted to the character of Pešzekhan and what may mean his presidency for Iran and the wider region – evidently for Patrons the text will be sooner than for others. 😉
https://www.middleesteye.net/news/iran-election-reformist-lawmaker-masoud-pezeshkian-wins-president
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