Underdog reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins Iranian presidential election

July 6 (UPI) -- Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian unexpectedly won Iran's presidential election with 16.3 million votes during Friday's runoff election.

"We will extend the hand of friendship to everyone," Pezeshkian said in his victory speech . "We are all people of this country and should utilize everyone's efforts for the nation's progress."

He will serve four years as Iran's president and leader of the Islamic Republic that has about 88 million citizens.

Pezeshkian, 69, secured 16.3 million votes out of 30.5 million cast for a majority of 53.6% of votes.

He finished about 2.8 million votes ahead of hardline candidate Saeed Jalili , who obtained 44.3% of votes with 13.5 million votes.

Nearly half of Iran's eligible voters, 49.8%, cast ballots in the runoff election.

Pezeshkian's win was unexpected while going up against several conservative and hardline candidates, with many describing him as a "second-tier candidate" and a "token reformist" on the ballot.

He received the most votes during the first round of voting to advance to Friday's runoff election after no candidate secured a majority.

Pezeshkian was Iran's minister of health from 1997 to 2005 during former President Mohammad Khatami 's administration.

Khatami was Iran's last reformist president.

Pezeshkian also has served in the Iranian Parliament since 2008, where he most recently was its vice speaker.

He also is a member of the Islamic Consultive Assembly and favors loosening Iran's restrictions on many hardline policies.

Pezeshkian says he wants to loosen Iran's strict enforcement of the nation's hijab law requiring women to wear a hijab while in public.

He also says he wants to improve relations with western nations, such as the United States, and possibly restart nuclear talks with global powers.

Pezeshkian replaces former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died when his helicopter crashed in a mountainous border region on May 19.