NEW YORK TIMES: In a striking repudiation of the ultraconservatives who wield power in Iran, voters on Saturday overwhelmingly elected a mild-mannered cleric seeking greater personal freedoms and a more conciliatory approach to the world.
Iranian state television reported that the cleric, Hassan Rowhani, 64, had more than 50 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff in the race to replace the departing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose tenure was defined largely by provocation with the West and a seriously hobbled economy at home.
The hard-line conservatives aligned with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, placed at the back of the pack of six candidates, indicating that Iranians were looking to their next president to change the tone, if not the direction of the nation, by choosing a cleric who served as the lead nuclear negotiator under an earlier reformist president, Mohammad Khatami… (more)
The two ex-presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami,who are in favor of changes in the policies of the Iranian government, endorsed Rouhani, Coupled with this was that the supporters of the green movement saw Rouhani as the best chance to create changes from within. All this resulted in the public to swing and go for Rohani.
Rafsanjani, a two term president, was disqualified and thus not allowed to run. Rafsanjani had opined that current government policies can only bring disaster to the country. Rouhani is a close friend of Rafsanjani and people felt electing him will show their disapproval for Khamenei the leader.
It is remarkable that the person with the second most votes, the mayor of Tehran, was also a moderate and also at odds with Khamenei. This goes to show that how much the people are against the spiritual leader Ayatolah Khamenei and how much they want to change the current policy.
Let us hope things will move in the right direction.