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Hassan Rouhani re-elected as President: Will he be able to reform Iran?
Global Village Space |
News Analysis |
Iran’s reformist President Hassan Rouhani has emphatically won the country’s presidential election, according to official results, fending off a challenge by the rival, Ebrahim Raisi.
Rouhani secured a comfortable victory, with the other main contender, Embrahim Raisi, garnering the second highest votes. According to the state media.
Rouhani received 23,549,616 votes (57%), compared to Raisi’s 15,786,449 votes, or 38.5 percent.
A huge turnout was evidenced by the fact that polling stations remained open till midnight. It defied the apprehensions that moderates won’t vote owing to disenchantment from the regime’s economic performance.
Iran’s interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, announced live on state television that Rouhani received 23,549,616 votes (57%), compared to Raisi’s 15,786,449 votes, or 38.5 percent.
It is widely believed that Iranians endorsed Rouhani’s efforts to re-engage with the West and grant more liberties. The victor had framed the vote as a choice between liberties and extremism. Rouhani’s four-year stint was typified with openness as the president took the bold initiative of signing the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2015 to alleviate international isolation.
Read more: Why was Ahmedinejad disqualified from Iranian elections?
The elected president will have to fend off resistance from the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who outranks Rouhani.
Rouhani thwarted a real threat in Embrahim Raisi, who had flared up populists concerns about a sluggish economy. Though he didn’t criticize the nuclear deal, he did berate Rouhani of mismanaging the economy and positioned himself as a defender of the poor and calling for a much tougher line with the West.
Raisi was entrenched in the conservative establishment, having served as attorney general, supervisor of state broadcaster IRIB and prosecutor in the Special Court for Clerics.
The election results showed that Iranians want liberties and openness; they are democratic enough to participate in a gradual change.
Resistance from Khamenei
“The last two decades of presidential elections have been short days of euphoria followed by long years of disillusionment,” said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who focuses on Iran.
“Democracy in Iran is allowed to bloom only a few days every four years, while autocracy is evergreen.”
– Karim Sadjadpour
This shows that pundits are cautious in their optimism about the President’s power. Rouhani’s re-election provides him a chance to institute social and political reforms which he had envisaged. However, he will be restricted and often times thwarted in his attempts.
Read full article:
Hassan Rouhani re-elected as President: Will he be able to reform Iran?
Global Village Space |
News Analysis |
Iran’s reformist President Hassan Rouhani has emphatically won the country’s presidential election, according to official results, fending off a challenge by the rival, Ebrahim Raisi.
Rouhani secured a comfortable victory, with the other main contender, Embrahim Raisi, garnering the second highest votes. According to the state media.
Rouhani received 23,549,616 votes (57%), compared to Raisi’s 15,786,449 votes, or 38.5 percent.
A huge turnout was evidenced by the fact that polling stations remained open till midnight. It defied the apprehensions that moderates won’t vote owing to disenchantment from the regime’s economic performance.
Iran’s interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, announced live on state television that Rouhani received 23,549,616 votes (57%), compared to Raisi’s 15,786,449 votes, or 38.5 percent.
It is widely believed that Iranians endorsed Rouhani’s efforts to re-engage with the West and grant more liberties. The victor had framed the vote as a choice between liberties and extremism. Rouhani’s four-year stint was typified with openness as the president took the bold initiative of signing the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2015 to alleviate international isolation.
Read more: Why was Ahmedinejad disqualified from Iranian elections?
The elected president will have to fend off resistance from the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who outranks Rouhani.
Rouhani thwarted a real threat in Embrahim Raisi, who had flared up populists concerns about a sluggish economy. Though he didn’t criticize the nuclear deal, he did berate Rouhani of mismanaging the economy and positioned himself as a defender of the poor and calling for a much tougher line with the West.
Raisi was entrenched in the conservative establishment, having served as attorney general, supervisor of state broadcaster IRIB and prosecutor in the Special Court for Clerics.
The election results showed that Iranians want liberties and openness; they are democratic enough to participate in a gradual change.
Resistance from Khamenei
“The last two decades of presidential elections have been short days of euphoria followed by long years of disillusionment,” said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who focuses on Iran.
“Democracy in Iran is allowed to bloom only a few days every four years, while autocracy is evergreen.”
– Karim Sadjadpour
This shows that pundits are cautious in their optimism about the President’s power. Rouhani’s re-election provides him a chance to institute social and political reforms which he had envisaged. However, he will be restricted and often times thwarted in his attempts.
Read full article:
Hassan Rouhani re-elected as President: Will he be able to reform Iran?
