Rouhani rolls to victory in Iran vote

Moderate leader wins 57 percent of electorate, promises to pursue “path of coexistence”

tehran, iran » Iran’s moderate President Hassan Rouhani trounced a hardline challenger to secure reelection Saturday, saying his country seeks peace and friendship as it pursues a “path of coexistence and interaction with the world.”

Friday’s election was widely seen as a referendum on the 68-year-old cleric’s push for greater freedom at home and outreach to the wider world, which culminated in the completion of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal that hardliners initially opposed.

The nuclear deal won Iran relief frominternational sanctions in exchange for limits on its contested nuclear program. But Iran continues to suffer from high unemployment and a dearth of foreign investment, putting pressure on Rouhani to show he can do more to turn the sluggish economy around.

Rouhani highlighted his desire for further outreach — and with it, the prospect of creating jobs outside investment — in his victory speech.

“Today, Iran — prouder than ever— is ready to promote its relations with the world based on mutual respect and national interests,” he said in a televised addressed flanked by photos of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his predecessor, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 revolution.

Iran “is not ready to accept humiliation and threat,” he continued. “This is the most important message that our nation expects to be heard by all— particu- larly world powers.”

Rouhani secured a commanding 57 percent of the vote in a race that drew more than seven out of every 10 voters to the polls. His nearest rival in the fourman race, hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi, won 38 percent of the vote, according to official tallies that covered more than 99 percent of votes cast.

Although considered a moderate by Iranian standards, Rouhani was the favorite pick for those seeking more liberal reforms in the conservative Islamic Republic.

He appeared to embrace a more reform-minded role during the campaign as he openly criticized hard-liners and Iran’s powerfulrevolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force involved in the war in Syria and the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq.

That gave hope to his supporters, who during recent campaign rallies called for the release of two reformist leaders of the 2009 Green Movement who remain under house arrest. The two figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, both endorsed Rouhani, as didmohammad Khatami, another reformist who served as Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005.

Many female drivers held out the V for victory sign and flashed their car lights on highways to celebrate the win in Tehran’s affluent north.

Rouhani was first elected in 2013 with nearly 51 percent of the vote.

Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, said the landslide win gives Rouhani a mandate he lacked in his first term.

“Though he’ll remain a centrist, Rouhani will be more aggressive in pursuing reforms,” he predicted, though he cautioned it will not be easy.

“Rouhani will continue to face an uphill climb on political reform; the hardlinerswill dig in around education and other issues,” he wrote.

Iran’s president is the second-most powerful figure within Iran’s political system. He is subordinate to the supreme leader, who is chosen by a clerical panel and has the ultimate say over all matters of state.