Masoud Pezeshkian raises his fist as he arrives for his campaign rally at a stadium in Tehran on Wednesday. AFP

Masoud Pezeshkian won the runoff presidential elections held on Friday to become Iran’s 9th president, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Saturday.

Out of a total of 30,530,157 votes counted, Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, won 16,384,403 votes while Saeed Jalili stood behind his rival with 13,538,179 ballots.

Pezeshkian, 69, had served as a lawmaker in the Iranian Parliament for five 4-year terms.

He was also the vice speaker of Iran’s 10th Parliament. The president-elect served as Iran’s minister of health for four years during the administration of then-President Mohammad Khatami.

The early election was held on June 28 across Iran with the participation of four candidates.

Electoral staff members count ballots at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, on Saturday. Reuters

Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili won more votes than other hopefuls; meanwhile, the runoff election was planned for a week later as none of the candidates managed to get the majority of votes to become the president of Iran.

Reformist president

Pezeshkian, Iran's only reformist candidate in the latest presidential election, has risen from relative obscurity to become the ninth president of the Islamic republic.

Pezeshkian, 69, won around 53.6 percent of the vote in a runoff election against the ultraconservative Saeed Jalili.

In the first round of Iran's snap elections on June 28, Pezeshkian led the polls against three other conservative figures, stunning supporters and rivals alike.

Pezeshkian's victory has raised the hopes of Iran's reformists after years of dominance by the conservative and ultraconservative camps.

He will replace late ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a May helicopter crash.

Agencies