TEHRAN
\nThe first round of Iran\u2019s presidential election revealed shrinking support for both reformists and conservatives even though some voters are pushing for change by backing the sole reformist candidate, analysts say.
\nMasoud Pezeshkian, the reformist contender, and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili led the polls held on Friday to replace the late ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.
\nFriday\u2019s vote, marked by a historically low turnout, \u201cclearly shows that both reformists\u2019 and conservatives\u2019 bases have considerably shrunk,\u201d said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank.
\nIn the lead-up to the election, Iran\u2019s main reformist coalition supported Pezeshkian, with endorsements by former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, a moderate.
\n\u201cThe reformists brought out the big guns and tried their best to mobilise their base,\u201d Vaez said on social media platform X, but \u201cit was simply insufficient.\u201d Likewise, the conservatives failed to garner sufficient votes \u201cdespite the tremendous resources they deployed,\u201d he added.
\nVaez pointed out that the combined votes of Jalili and conservative parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who came in third, totalled 12.8 million.
\nThat figure was well below Raisi\u2019s nearly 18 million votes in the 2021 election.
\nOf the 61 million eligible voters, only about 40 per cent cast ballots, marking a record low turnout in the Islamic Republic where some people have lost faith in the process.
\nFor Vaez, the decline in turnout, from around 49pc in 2021, was \u201ca real embarrassment for the leadership\u201d in Iran, where ultimate political power lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
\nPolitical commentator Mohammad Reza Manafi said Pezeshkian\u2019s lead reflected a push for \u201cfundamental changes\u201d regarding the economy and relations with the rest of the world.
\nHowever, those favouring Pezeshkian \u201cdo not expect a miracle or a quick solution but hope he can gradually prevent conditions from worsening,\u201d Manafi added.
\nIran has been reeling from the economic impact of international sanctions, which have contributed to soaring inflation, high unemployment and a record low for the Iranian rial against the US dollar.
\nThe vote also came amid heightened regional tensions amid fighting in Gaza between Israel and Tehran\u2019s ally Hamas and diplomatic tensions over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.
\nPezeshkian, an outspoken heart surgeon who has represented the northwestern city of Tabriz in parliament since 2008, came out on top thanks to his \u201cclean record without any accusations of financial corruption,\u201d said Manafi.
\nOfficial figures showed Pezeshkian with 42.4pc of the vote, against 38.6pc for Jalili. The reformist has urged \u201cconstructive relations\u201d with Washington and European capitals to \u201cget Iran out of its isolation.\u201d In contrast, Jalili is widely recognised for his uncompromising anti-West stance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN The first round of Iran\u2019s presidential election revealed shrinking support for both reformists and conservatives even though some voters are pushing for change by backing the sole reformist candidate, analysts say. Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist contender, and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili led the polls held on Friday to replace the late ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-415856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n