Leader of Turkish origin elected as Iran’s 9th President

Reformist Tabriz MP and former Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian became the 9th President of Iran by receiving 53.7 percent of the votes in the second round of the 14th presidential election.

VOTE COUNTING PROCESS COMPLETED

Spokesperson of the Election Center of the Iranian Ministry of Interior, Mohsen Islami, announced in a press conference held at the election center in the ministry building that the counting of votes in the second round of the presidential election held yesterday has been completed.

30 MILLION VOTERS WENT TO THE BALLOT BOX

Stating that a total of 30 million 530 thousand 157 votes were cast in ballot boxes set up in approximately 59 thousand centers across the country, Islami said that Pezeshkiyan received 16 million 384 thousand 403 votes. Accordingly, Pezeshkiyan’s vote rate was 53.7 percent.

CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE STAYED AT 44 PERCENT

He stated that the conservative Said Celili received 13 million 538 thousand 179 votes. Celili’s vote rate remained at 44.4 percent. The participation rate in the second round of the presidential election was 49.8 percent.

WHO IS MESUD PEZEŞKİYAN?

Masoud Pezeshkiyan Pezeshkiyan was born on September 29, 1954 in the city of Mahabad as the child of an Iranian-Turkish family.

Pezeshkiyan, whose surname means “Doctors” in Persian, graduated from Tabriz University Faculty of Medicine. He served as both a combatant and a doctor in the Iran-Iraq war between 1980-1988.

Having completed his general practice course in 1985, Pezeshkiyan continued his education by specializing in general surgery at Tabriz University of Health Sciences after the war.

Pezeshkian, who received his subspecialty in cardiac surgery from Iran University of Health Sciences in 1993, later became a cardiac surgery specialist and served as the Rector of Tabriz University of Health Sciences between 1994 and 1999.

POLITICAL CAREER

Pezeshkian’s political life began with his appointment as Deputy Minister of Health in 1997 during the term of former President Mohammad Khatami. He was appointed Minister of Health in 2001 during Khatami’s term and remained in this position until 2005.

Pezeshkian, who managed to enter the parliament as the Tabriz MP in the 2008 General Elections, has served five terms representing Tabriz since then.

Pezeshkian served as Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament for 4 years in 2016.

Pezeshkian, who applied to run for the 2013 presidential elections in Iran but later withdrew his candidacy, was rejected by the Guardian Council of the Constitution for the 2021 elections.

Pezeshkian managed to enter the Parliament from Tabriz in the first place in the Parliamentary Elections held on March 1.

Pezeshkian, who applied to be a candidate for the presidential election, which was brought forward by one year after the death of President Ibrahim Raisi, competed as the only candidate of the reformists in the elections.