Rouhani Wins Re-election in Iran by a Wide Margin

[still_one]

TEHRAN — Riding a large turnout from Iran’s urban middle classes, President Hassan Rouhani won re-election in a landslide on Saturday, giving him a mandate to continue his quest to expand personal freedoms and open Iran’s ailing economy to global investors.

Perhaps as important, analysts say, the resounding victory should enable him to strengthen the position of the moderate and reformist faction as the country prepares for the end of the rule of the 78-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Of the 41 million votes cast, the Interior Ministry said, Mr. Rouhani won 23 million (or 57 percent), soundly defeating his chief opponent, Ebrahim Raisi, who received 15.7 million (38.5 percent). Iranian state television congratulated Mr. Rouhani on his victory.

Turnout was heavy, with more than 70 percent of Iran’s 56 million voters casting ballots.

Despite the healthy margin of victory, Mr. Rouhani, 68, will face considerable headwinds, both at home and abroad, as he embarks on his second term. He badly needs to demonstrate progress on overhauling the moribund economy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/middleeast/iran-election-hassan-rouhani.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I really hope the ignoramus in the WH can be stopped before he destroys everything President Obama accomplished

[Adrahil]

1. There are two Iranian students at my wife's university....

Many in Iran are sick to death of theocracy.

They want a more open, progressive society. But as always, those who benefit from the current power structure are loath to undermine it.

[Kentonio]

2. The Iranian people have been wanting a more open country for a long time.

I really hope Rouhani can help deliver it for them. It's not commonly known in the US, but in 2009 51% of Iranians held a favourable view of America. Not only was that the highest in the middle east, but it was higher than in India or Turkey too. The media have spent decades propagandizing the American people against Iran, but the reality is very different.

[DFW]

3. I knew a lot of Iranians in college

I also have a couple of ex-pat Iranian friends here in Germany. They are smart, educated, down-to-earth people. They are now fluent in German and well-established here, but I think that if clerical rule in Iran were abolished and the economy allowed to improve, not all of them would stay here. They or their families left because they felt their lives were in danger, not because they wanted to go into permanent exile.