Hassan Rouhani sweeps polls to second term

 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani won a resounding re-election victory on Saturday as voters overwhelmingly backed his efforts to reach out to the world and rebuild the struggling economy.

Rouhani, a 68-year-old moderate cleric who spearheaded a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, took 23.5 million votes — 57 per cent — compared to 15.8 million — 38.3 percent — for hardline challenger Ebrahim Raisi.

But Iran’s efforts to open up to the world face a stark challenge from US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to tear up the nuclear deal and is currently visiting its bitter regional rival Saudi Arabia. Iranians none the less flocked to the polls, with turnout hitting 73 per cent.

Election organisers were forced to extend polling by several hours as they struggled to adapt to a population explosion that has added 20 million names to the voting rolls in the past two decades. “Already last night we had the feeling we were heading for a landslide, and it came true,” said Farid Dehdilani, an adviser for the Iranian Privatisation Organisation, who worked on Rouhani’s campaign.

“Our people reaffirmed their confidence in President Rouhani and their support for engagement with the world,” he added. Raisi, 56, had positioned himself as a defender of the poor and called for a tougher line with the West. But his revolutionary rhetoric gained limited traction.

A voice of change

•  Rouhani has presented himself as a candidate of change and freedom while attacking his opponents as “extremists”.
•  His first term saw a deal with world powers that ended many sanctions and a 13-yr standoff over Iran’s nuke plan.
• He also brought a more technocratic approach to the economy and tamed runaway inflation.