Hassan Rouhani was re-elected easily as Iran’s president last week, obtaining 57 percent of 41 million votes cast against only 15.7 million for his main rival, Ebrahim Raisi.
Some optimists might see in the result a touch of a much older period when Iran’s great Persian civilization achieved so many world firsts. For example, under King Cyrus, it was the first nation to ban slavery 2500 years ago. Freedom of religion was also allowed.
The election clearly demonstrated again that most Iranians prefer moderation over the fanaticism of the governing clerics and military. In a democracy, the size of the victory would also strengthen significantly the position of those who yearn for the departure from government of the 78-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It is a tribute to the democratic instincts of the Iranian people that they rejected Raisi, especially given the strong likelihood that he was supported behind the scenes by Khameini. Many urban Iranians see Raisi as a second Holocaust-denying former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Raisi in the summer of 1988 was also heavily involved in the executions of 30,000 men and women-mostly activists of the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Iran’s government today includes both an unelected supreme leader, who holds the position for life and oversees all, and a president and members of the legislature, chosen in elections which are treated as significant. The elected are overseen by clerical institutions, such as the Guardian Council, which must approve all candidates for elected office. The Revolutionary Guards and other institutions accountable only to the supreme leader, also hold enormous potential for national and international harm.
Ongoing violence in the Middle East and elsewhere highlight the reality that the world’s primary state sponsor of terrorism continues to be Iran. Its regime has committed more harm to innocents than any terrorist group, including ISIS. Khamenei has diverted much of Iran’s wealth towards acquiring nuclear weapons. The “Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGG)” is behind many terrorist activities not only in the Middle East but in Europe, Africa and elsewhere.
