Moderate Pezeshkian elected Iran's new president

By Nathan Morley

Masoud Pezeshkian – a man considered a ‘moderate’ - has won Iran’s presidential election.

Pezeshkian, a former health minister, won the country's presidential election, surprising many commentators and prompting his supporters to celebrate through the night.

The result comes after a second-round run-off between Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, a former chief negotiator on the nuclear issue. 

Pezeshkian garnered 16,384,402 of the total 30,573,931 votes -turnout stood at 49.8 per cent. 

At 69 years old, Pezeshkian is certainly no newcomer to politics. A heart surgeon by profession, he currently sits in the national parliament, where he once served as deputy speaker. 

His campaign promised to curb the infamous morality police and strike a fresh nuclear deal with Western powers, with the hope of removing crippling sanctions.

This presidential election, which had originally been set for next year, was brought forward following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his staff in a helicopter crash on May 19.