After the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, Iranian politician Masoud Pezeshkian wrote that it was "unacceptable in the Islamic Republic to arrest a girl for her hijab and then hand over her dead body to her family".
Days later, as nationwide protests and a bloody crackdown on all dissent took hold, he warned that those "insulting the supreme leader... will create nothing except long-lasting anger and hatred in the society".
The stances taken by Mr Pezeshkian, now Iran's 69-year-old president-elect, highlight the dualities of being a reformist politician within Iran's Shia theocracy - always pushing for change but never radically challenging the system overseen by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran's interior ministry said yesterday: "By gaining a majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran's next president."
After Iran's 28 June presidential election saw the lowest turnout in history, Mr Pezeshkian won 16.3 million votes against hardliner Saeed Jalili's 13.5 million votes to clinch Friday's runoff election. Mr Pezeshkian now must convince a public angered by years of economic pain and bloody crackdowns that he can make the changes he promised.
"We are losing our backing in the society, because of our behavior, high prices, our treatment of girls and because we censor the internet," Mr Pezeshkian said at a televised debate on Monday night. "People are discontent with us because of our behaviour."
この記事は The Independent の July 07, 2024 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は The Independent の July 07, 2024 版に掲載されています。
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