Pezeshkian and Jalili to Compete in Second Round of Presidential Elections

As the Iranian presidential elections move to a second round, Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, the two candidates who received the most votes in the elections held on Friday, will compete against each other. The announced results from the first round of the presidential elections indicated that none of the candidates managed to secure the required 50 percent plus one vote, leading to a second round to determine a replacement for Ebrahim Raisi. The second round of the Iranian presidential elections to determine Raisi's successor is scheduled to take place this coming Friday. Meanwhile, following the official announcement from the country's election headquarters regarding the two-stage nature of the 14th presidential election, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf expressed his support for Jalili, his former rival. Alireza Zakani and Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, two other conservative candidates who withdrew before the elections, also issued separate statements supporting Saeed Jalili. Both former candidates emphasized that they would use their 'campaign headquarters' to assist Jalili in succeeding in the second round of the elections. The Ministry of Interior's election headquarters announced that after several statements regarding the total counted votes, it confirmed that the reformist candidate and the hardline conservatives would proceed to the second round, which is set for this upcoming Friday, July 15. According to this headquarters, out of 24,535,185 counted votes, Masoud Pezeshkian received 10,415,191 votes, Saeed Jalili 9,473,298 votes, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf 3,383,340 votes, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi 206,397 votes. These statistics show that of the votes cast, 42 percent belonged to Pezeshkian, 38 percent to Jalili, 14 percent to Qalibaf, and only one percent to Pourmohammadi. The number of invalid votes was also 1,056,159, which is equivalent to 4.3 percent of the total votes. Given that none of the candidates managed to secure 50 percent plus one vote, the elections moved to a second round, where the competition will be between Pezeshkian and Jalili, who received the most votes in the first round. The Ministry of Interior's election headquarters also announced that the participation rate in the first round of the 14th presidential election was 39.9 percent. Following this, news agencies published a statement from Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in which he explicitly stated that he supported Saeed Jalili in the second round of elections to prevent reformists from gaining power. Qalibaf, who did not withdraw in favor of Jalili in the first round, stated in a declaration after receiving insufficient votes in the first round: 'Although I respect Dr. Pezeshkian, due to concerns about some of his associates, I urge all revolutionary forces and my supporters to help prevent a current that is responsible for a significant part of our economic and political problems from returning to power.' This support comes at a time when there has been a fierce verbal battle among supporters of Qalibaf and Jalili on social media in recent days. Lotfollah Forouzandeh, head of Alireza Zakani's campaign, who was referred to as a 'cover' candidate and had also withdrawn from the competition, supported Jalili on social media, stating: 'All of Dr. Zakani's campaign headquarters across the country will strive with all their strength and capacity for the victory of the revolutionary front candidate.' Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic's state television announced on Saturday, July 9, that the two candidates advancing to the second round are scheduled to hold two face-to-face debates on Tuesday, July 11, and Wednesday, July 12. During the first round of campaigning, five debates were held among six candidates, which many political activists and social media users believed were filled with general and 'boring' statements. This is the first time since the controversial 2009 presidential election that two presidential candidates will debate directly. After that election, Iranian state television changed the format of debates, and in the three presidential elections of 2013, 2017, and 2021, debates were held in groups. None of these elections reached a second round, and therefore, no one-on-one debates were held. In the television advertising package released for each candidate, a half-hour documentary and a half-hour speech have also been planned. The official participation rate in the 14th presidential election, announced by the Ministry of Interior at around 40 percent, indicates that out of 61,452,321 eligible voters inside and outside the country, only 24,535,185 participated in the 14th presidential election. Etemad Online published a comparative table showing that the participation rate in the 14th presidential election decreased in most provinces compared to the 13th election that brought Ebrahim Raisi to power. According to this table, only two provinces, Tehran and Qom, experienced an upward trend with increases of 10.6 and 3.8 percent, respectively, compared to the previous presidential election. The provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan with a decrease of 32.8 percent, Gilan with a decrease of 26.1 percent, and Semnan with a decrease of 22.2 percent had the highest rates of decreased participation compared to the previous election. Following the violent suppression of several recent protests in Iran, the consolidation of the government, and economic pressures resulting from increased sanctions, the trend of electoral participation among the people in Iran has consistently been declining. Previously, the election that resulted in Ebrahim Raisi's victory was referred to as the least vibrant election, but now a new record has been set for the people's indifference to elections in the Islamic Republic. This is while Ali Khamenei has repeatedly emphasized the importance of public participation. Now, the significant decrease in participation in this election has become one of the hottest topics on Persian-language social media, with supporters of both boycotts and participation analyzing it from their perspectives. Yasser Jabari, head of the Strategic Evaluation and Monitoring Center of the Expediency Discernment Council, wrote on social media regarding this: 'A 40 percent participation rate is nothing but a Mongol-like assault on the livelihood of the nation due to the decision-making of neoliberal, bearded, and prostrating Ayatollahs.' Simultaneously, as the votes of the 14th presidential election are being counted step by step and the approximate participation rate becomes clear, some government supporters on social media have called for a 'serious root cause analysis' of the reasons for the decline in public participation in several recent elections. Opponents and critics of the government also speak of the 'victory' of the election boycott project in Iran and the 'big no' of citizens to Ali Khamenei's call for high participation for the 'dignity' of the Islamic Republic. However, many analysts and political activists advocating for the boycott emphasize the need for cooperation between those who voted and those who did not in the struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran and to avoid turning participation or non-participation in elections into a factor of division and separation among critics and opponents. Some government supporters also view the low participation in the elections as a sign of dissatisfaction with Ebrahim Raisi's government, which has been referred to as the 'martyr of service,' despite the government's praise for him and the unofficial closure of any criticism of his incomplete cabinet's performance. Some have also warned those who are satisfied with this low participation, attempting to push rivals out of the field, that the low participation rate is not something to be proud of and that the people's 'boycott' should be taken seriously.