Rouhani empowered as allies, supporters make gains in Iranian elections
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is set to have an easier last 15 months of his term due to voters' support of what Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami and Seyyed Hassan Khomeini stand for.
TEHRAN, Iran — Finally, Iran’s long-awaited parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections have been held, and the results suggest that moderate President Hassan Rouhani and the Reformists have once again outmaneuvered the hard-liners.
The one distinguishing characteristic of the Feb. 26 twin elections was the heated war of tickets. Reformists and moderates reached agreement on a coalition and released a single ticket, known as the "List of Hope.” It was headed by former Reformist Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and backed by moderate Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami. Meanwhile, the Principlists put forth a ticket headed by former parliament Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel.
In the capital, the List of Hope surprised everyone as Tehran’s 30 seats in parliament all unprecedentedly went to the Reformists and moderates. The hard-liners failed to win even a single seat. However, Haddad-Adel was close to becoming a member of parliament again — according to the final results, he came 32nd in Tehran.
The vote results are certainly a big victory for Reformists and Rouhani, and a humiliating defeat for hard-liners, particularly as many of the Reformist candidates, who managed to win despite having no political background, are considered low-level figures. On social media, Reformist supporters made fun of the Principlists, saying the Reformist “under-23 football team” beat the adult conservative national team.
