The Independent:
Iran’s voters have handed Hassan Rouhani an overwhelming victory in the country’s landmark election, giving the reformist President a renewed mandate for his policy of unshackling restrictions at home and forging links with the international community.
Mr Rouhani’s triumph was not only an emphatic endorsement of his modernist drive, but a ringing rejection of his hardline opponent Ebrahim Raisi who had claimed to champion the legacy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution.
The scale of Mr Raisi’s defeat, trailing 39.8 percent to 58.6 percent,with most votes counted, meant that the conservatives had little room to claim that the result was manipulated. With a massive victory by the liberals in last year’s parliamentary election, President Rouhani now has the opportunity to push through domestic reforms who many claimed had been slow in coming.
The election mandate will also gives Mr Rouhani more leverage with the outside world especially with deep concern over possible actions of Donald Trump. The US President had threatened to tear up the nuclear deal Iran had signed with world powers during the US election campaign and he is currently on trips to Saudi Arabia and Israel --- two countries who regard Iran as an enemy. Mr Trump is expected to make a speech in Riyadh which, it is claimed, will be highly belligerent towards Tehran.
The Iranian government believes that the other five states which signed the deal, including Britain, and have stressed that Iran is fulfilling its commitment, will be a buttress in preventing in preventing Mr Trump pushing back towards international isolation just as the country has shown its determination to engage with the outside world.
Mr Rouhani’s win was built on an exceptionally large turnout, which led to polling stations being kept open late into the evening, solidified votes for the President. His followers had stressed that getting the vote out would lead to victory for their man...
Go to link
Congrats, JJ! Your choice won!
I've got even better news...Rex wants to Talk to JZ...that is right. They want to hold official talks soon. Issue number one : picking the right location for the future U.S. embassy so over-excited and drug junkie "freedom/revolutionaries" can't invade the campus and claim all over its walls like monkeyes...
On their way to leave the country to "continue" their education in U.S. , Canada and elsewhere, Trumpeting IRI's accomplishement left and right.
Hey JJ...Did you and other iranian-peruvian-americans get to vote over there?:)
Ajab! "Land slide"?!
According to who?! Who counted the votes, apart from the croocked Ayatollahs themselves?! who can independently verify this claim by the croocked Ayatollahs that 70% of Iranians voted, let alone who they voted for?!!
Dont mean to party poop, just asking!
:)))
Zolfi jan
Don't spoil the Obama-rohani supporters' coalition here. let them have their fun and think that iran has been meeting his end of the bargain....trump is an "anti-american"...and a whole set of other delusions.
In fact, 70% participation is a very conservative figure. I think about 95% of the population went to the polls. Watch the following video clip and see for yourself the enthusiasm Iranians show vis-a-vis the elections!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j0e1vC7_8a8
Anything you probably may have said or done to promote the "get out the vote" campaign counts as participation....So....i would saay...like 100 million people showed up on friday in iran alone!
Hey Doc,
People are fed up, so they don't hesitate to say what they really think.
That maybe, but at the same time they show no signs of hating this regime and wanting it to go away, all i hear is bitching about how bad things are in Iran...and...we are fine with it!