Tehran, 06 July 2024 - According to unofficial results, reformist candidate Masoud Pezheshkian has emerged victorious in the Iranian presidential election, defeating conservative rival Saeed Jalili, who had the backing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This information was reported by AFP, citing Iran's state-owned news agency.

No candidate secured more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of the election held last week, necessitating a run-off between the two candidates who received the most votes: Masoud Pezheshkian and Saeed Jalili.

In the first round, Pezheshkian led with over 1.415 million votes, while Jalili garnered approximately 947,298 votes, according to Iran's Election Commission.

In the decisive second round, Pezheshkian received about 1.63 million votes, significantly outpacing Jalili's 1.3 million votes. This result marks a substantial victory for Pezheshkian, who defeated the Khamenei-backed candidate by a margin of about 3.3 million votes.

While the Iranian presidency does not hold the same power as in other presidential systems, with the Supreme Leader at the apex of the country's power structure, the president serves as the chief aide to the Supreme Leader and is an ex-officio member of the State Committee for selecting the successor to the Supreme Leader.