RSS Feed
June 15th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
“It will be welcome in Western capitals but I don’t think anyone should crow
about it because it will undermine him.”
More than 50.5 million Iranians were eligible to vote to find a successor to
Mr Ahmadinejad, who after serving two consecutive terms was constitutionally
barred from standing for re-election.
The authorities and media reported massive numbers of people turned out for
Friday’s election, with Mr Rowhani benefiting from the withdrawal this week
of the only other moderate candidate and the backing of former reformist
president Mohammad Khatami.
If no candidate gets an overall majority of 50 per cent plus one vote in the
first round, the top two candidates will square off in a second-round
run-off scheduled for June 21.
Mr Rowhani, 64, led talks with world powers over Iran’s controversial nuclear
ambitions under Mr Khatami’s presidency.
During his tenure, in 2003, the Islamic republic agreed to suspend uranium
enrichment. It was restarted after Mr Ahmadinejad first became president in
2005.
Iran has been at loggerheads with world powers over its nuclear ambitions,
which the West suspects is aimed at developing atomic weapons. The stand-off
has resulted in the imposition of harsh economic sanctions and Tehran’s
international isolation.
While campaigning, Mr Rowhani promised to move to ease those sanctions, which
have led to severe economic pain in the country.
Inflation is at more than 30 per cent, while the Iranian currency, the rial,
has lost nearly 70 per cent of its value and unemployment is rising.
Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardians Council electoral
watchdog, said late on Friday that “no violation” had been
reported whatsoever across Iran.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election in 2009 sparked massive anti-regime street
protests after his opponents and two reformist candidates Mir Hossein
Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi alleged wide-scale voting fraud.
Those protests, stifled by a brutal regime crackdown, led to the eventual
detention under house arrest of Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi, and a widespread
suppression of reformists.
Mr Rowhani’s surge in the campaign came after Mr Khatami publicly endorsed
him, asking all his supporters to vote for the moderate candidate.
Views: 0
Posted in 
