The lesser of two evils is still…evil.
Make no bones about it. (Re)elected President Hassan Rouhani is a “moderate” only in Iran’s distorted political spectrum. Indeed, it is akin to measuring virtue among denizens in a whore house.
Nevertheless, winning by 57 to 38 percent in a four-candidate race is a decisive victory.
Indeed, the distortions of the just-completed presidential election illustrate its singularly undemocratic nature. Following is a brief description of the process extracted from an Atlantic article by Haleh Esfandiari:
“Originally, six candidates were approved by the Council of Guardians, a body composed of six senior clerics named by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and six laymen (who must also be experts in Islamic law) selected by the Majlis, or parliament. The council is empowered to decide who will be allowed to run and who will be barred from running. Of the six approved by the council, Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a conservative and hardliner like Raisi, stepped down … in favor of Raisi. The[n] Vice President Is-haq Jahangiri, like Rouhani a moderate and an advocate of reform, withdrew and endorsed Rouhani. (Two other candidates, Mostafa Agha Mirsalim, former minister of culture and a conservative, and Mostafa Hashemi-Taba, reformist close to former president Mohammad Khatami, [we]re not considered serious contenders.)”
