On June 28, local time, the voting activities for the 14th presidential election in Iran officially began. As the counting of votes proceeded, the competition between the candidates became more and more intense. The four candidates are conservative Speaker of Parliament Al-Kalibaf, former nuclear negotiator Jalili and former Home Minister Poole Mohammadi, as well as reformist independent politician and former Health Minister Pezeshkian.
According to the latest voting results, the original most optimistic "number one favorite" Kalibav failed to take the lead, but it was the "unfamous" Jalili and the "unfavored" Pezeshkian who became the "seeded players" in the final competition.
According to Iranian media reports, more than 61 million voters are eligible to vote in this election, and 60,000 polling stations have been set up in Iran and abroad.
On June 29, local time, the Iranian Ministry of Interior announced that the counting of votes in the presidential election had been completed. None of the four presidential candidates received more than half of the vote, so the top two candidates with the highest number of votes will advance to the second round. According to the report, in the second round of voting, Iran's reformist candidate and former health minister Pezeshkian and conservative former nuclear negotiator Jalili will compete, and the second round of voting will be held on July 5 local time.
It is understood that the 58-year-old Jalili is a hard-line diplomat who has conducted nuclear talks with the United States, and he can be regarded as an "anti-American fighter" who opposes the "confession" diplomacy and compromise with the West. On top of that, he spent four years in the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and described himself as a loyal supporter of Iran's "supreme rule of law," which undoubtedly gave him a head start on Khamenei's support.
The 69-year-old Pezeshkian, the former Iranian health minister, is the inheritor of the political legacy of the reformist former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who advocates negotiations with the West to seek the lifting of sanctions. It is worth mentioning that before the election, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a public statement, saying that "the elected person must ensure that his team members are not people who oppose the system or have a favorable opinion of the United States."
There is no doubt that Khamenei's words undoubtedly set the tone for this election. You must know that Iran, as a theocratic country, as the "supreme leader", Khamenei, is more powerful than the president in terms of real power and appeal. Khamenei's request for the composition of the candidate's team also reflects the Iranian government's control over domestic political leanings. It can be expected that this will also affect the "recognition" of the new president to a large extent.
It is worth noting that at a critical moment when Iran is busy with elections, Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Bagheri has singled out the future development direction of China-Iran relations to the Chinese side. Not long ago, when he attended the BRICS meeting in Russia and met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, he made an outlook on the friendly development of China-Iran relations, hoped to strengthen bilateral relations, and clearly expressed his support for the one-China principle and China's actions to safeguard territorial sovereignty.
From Khamenei's political demand that Iran's new president "not be pro-American" to Bagheri's diplomatic statement on strengthening friendly relations with China, all reflect that Iran's political line and diplomatic strategy will not change significantly. In this regard, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that as Iran's comprehensive strategic partner, China supports the Iranian government and Iranian people in their aspirations to uphold established domestic and foreign policies and safeguard their independence, sovereignty, stability and development. From this statement, it can be seen that China's expectation for the Iranian election is very simple, that is, to continue the steady development of bilateral relations and not change because of the change of government.