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
