Pezeshkian or Jalili: To be decided on Friday

Iranians are set to head to the polls on Friday, July 5, to choose their next president in a runoff election. Competition is tight between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and conservative Saeed Jalili who respectively gained 10.41 million and 9.47 million votes during the preliminary round on June 28.

The incoming president will be stepping into the role left vacant by the untimely passing of President Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi tragically lost his life in a helicopter crash on May 19, with more than a year remaining in his term, and was anticipated to secure a second term in 2025.

With a campaign ban taking effect in the early hours of Thursday, we have decided to compare and contrast the plans, perspectives, and campaigns of the two candidates competing in the run-off election in this article.

Pezeshkian’s entrance into the presidential fray was sudden and unexpected. In his own words, he was not expecting to get qualified to run for president, as he had initially failed to get vetted as a nominee by the Guardian Council during the 2023 parliamentary elections.

In many of his debates and addresses to the Iranian populace, the reformist candidate said he needed to “consult experts” on economic and societal issues and refrained from detailing his agenda. While it is in no way bad to seek counsel from experts, some people had hoped that they would hear in more detail how Pezeshkian was planning to govern.

Jalili though, has campaigned for presidency multiple times in the past. He managed to outline more well-received plans and policies during debates. His remarks, however, have sometimes been deemed as too vague or too specific for the general public to understand. The fact that Jalili was allegedly a key contributor to the late President Raisi’s administration, also helped him hold a better grasp of the current issues in the country.

Pezeshkian’s entourage and key supporters are both a strong point and a point of weakness for him due to the reformists’ long and eventful time in office. Though, Pezeshkian has claimed that he does not align with any political party, any figure or former official ever seen besides him during his campaign has been a reformist or centrist.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former foreign minister who signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, is one of the figures who’s garnered both support and disdain for Pezeshkian. Some like Zarif for having commenced close dialogue with the United States for the first time in decades, and some reprimand him for naively compromising on Iran’s nuclear capabilities without making sure that Washington would uphold its commitments.

As for Jalili, there is no denying that his entourage and associates have been a significant vulnerability for him. Some of his representatives ended up making extremely controversial and uncalculated remarks on TV, making it easier for reformists to stigmatize Jalili as an inflexible and hard figure.

Pezeshkian is seen as a critic of President Raisi’s government. He and his advisors have repeatedly accused the Raisi administration of not caring about the termination of sanctions, saying that a reformist comeback in return would ensure the “normalization” of ties with the West.

That’s while most analysts agree that Raisi’s only difference with his centrist predecessor Hassan Rouhani was that he did not believe in tying the country’s existence to the sanctions removal, and sought dialogue with not only the West but also countries outside the Western hemisphere.

Jalili’s potential administration is considered to be a continuation of martyr Raisi’s time in office. Jalili thinks Iran should make the West “regret” its shunning of the JCPOA. He has not explained how his potential administration plans to do that, but his remarks have been praised by some who believe there is no point in expecting sincerity from the West, as such an approach has failed Iran in the past.

Pezeshkian’s views on the economy seem to be more liberal than his opponent. He believes energy prices should increase and the government must have less control over the market.

Jalili on the other hand, is in favor of maintaining and increasing energy subsidies. He also believes that the government must incorporate public participation in the economy, but says the government must still act as a supervising body.

Courtesy: Tehran Times

 

Iran: Voting for presidential election on Friday

Iranian cities are buzzing with election fever as posters and placards adorn streets, big screens air presidential debates, and candidates crisscross the country in a bid to sway voters. 

Anticipation has swept across Iran and observers wonder whom Iranians will entrust with the presidency and the responsibility of leading the country, 40 days after the passing of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran. 

Western media outlets, which rejoiced at the decreased voter turnout of around 50% in the 2021 presidential elections, appear poised for disappointment this time around. Estimates indicate that a significantly larger number of individuals will be casting their votes, despite the unprecedented levels of propaganda from Western and Israeli sources urging a boycott of the election.

“Channels such as BBC and International are urging us not to vote. It's puzzling how Iranians living abroad and receiving payment from Western governments or Zionists have the audacity to dictate our actions. We are concerned about the future of our country and want to elect the most suitable candidate. All these traitors and lackeys of the West can say whatever they want, we don’t care about them,” a man in his 20s told IRIB during a street interview. 

Rather than deciding to boycott the elections, Iranians are preoccupied with whom they should be voting for. "I feel a sense of duty as an Iranian to participate in the election. While I haven't made a final decision on my vote yet, I know I must make up my mind by Friday morning," shared an Iranian woman with IRIB reporters.

The race is close between two conservative contenders and one reformist candidate. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Saeed Jalili, and Masoud Pezeshkian are currently leading the pack, and experts believe that if both conservative candidates remain in the race, elections could head to a second round. 

Reformist politicians have also shown great enthusiasm and hope in supporting the sole reformist candidate, Pezeshkian, after largely avoiding participation in election processes over the past three years, partly due to bitterness stemming from the significant loss of clout following the end of President Hassan Rouhani’s administration.

Rouhani, along with the influential figures Mohammad Khatami and Mohammad Javad Zarif, were among the most notable reformists making a return to the political scene by throwing their support behind Pezeshkian.

While the election outcome remains uncertain, one thing is clear, the June 28 vote will see Iranians rejecting external pressures from the West and Israel. Iranians will demonstrate their resilience and independence, and show up to choose their own path.

In this pursuit of independence, efforts by foreign forces to create politicization, especially in the field of foreign policy will also yield no results. Iranians now understand that every candidate’s purpose will be to terminate the sanctions while attempting to neutralize them at the same time.