BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated reformist Masoud Pezeshkian for his victory in Iran’s presidential runoff election, official media reported on Saturday.
State news agency Xinhua cited Chinese leader as saying, “I am willing to work with the new President to lead the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership towards deeper advancement.” Earlier, Pakistani leadership also congratulated Masoud Pezeshkian for his win in Iran’s presidential runoff election. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended congratulations to Masoud Pezeshkian on his win in Iran’s presidential elections.
Iran’s reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday won a runoff presidential election against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, Iranian media reported. Pezeshkian won the election by securing 16,384,403 of the votes while his opponent Saeed Jalili, managed to secure 13,538,179 of the votes, according to an announcement made by Mohsen Eslami, spokesperson for Iran’s election headquarters.
The election, called early following the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, followed a first round marked by a historically low turnout previous week.
Iran’s main reformist alliance supported Pezeshkian, with endorsements by former presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami, a moderate. Pezeshkian, has called for “constructive ties” with Western nations to revive the nuclear agreement in order to “get Tehran out of its isolation”.
