Rohani seeks poll dividends for moderates

Rohani seeks poll dividends for moderates

February 25, 2016
Hassan Rohani
Hassan Rohani

TEHRAN — Iran's President Hassan Rohani is hoping his moderate allies can score a breakthrough against conservatives in elections on Friday, the first polls since his government's nuclear deal with world powers.

The elections are a crucial test of Rohani's public clout as he struggles to rebuild Iran's economy following last month's lifting of sanctions under the nuclear agreement, which took more than two years to secure.

In a first for the republic, voters are on the same day electing lawmakers to the 290-seat parliament and choosing the 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, a powerful committee of clerics that will select the country's next supreme leader.

The elections will be a crucial indicator of the future direction Iranians want for their country. From a population of almost 80 million, 55 million people are eligible to vote.

Since becoming president in 2013 Rohani has fulfilled his main pledge to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, but the centrist cleric, who has close ties to reform-seeking politicians, has faced persistent criticism from a conservative-dominated parliament.

Hardline lawmakers have accused the government of making too many concessions to the West in order to secure the nuclear deal and are hoping voters will hand Rohani and his allies a stinging rebuke.

The president is vulnerable on the economy, which has yet to see the benefits of the lifting of sanctions despite announcements of major business deals including a $25 billion contract for 118 Airbus aircraft.

The 13-year nuclear standoff saw Iran's currency, the rial, lose two thirds in value, eroding people's purchasing power. The official unemployment rate stands at 10 percent but rises to 25 percent among youth.

If voters support a pro-Rohani coalition of moderate and reformist candidates at the ballot box, dubbed "The List of Hope", the president could swing the balance of power, creating a fresh opening for social and political reforms on which he has so far been blocked.

A one-week official campaign for the parliamentary election has been largely overshadowed by controversies over who was allowed to run for office.

The exclusion of thousands of candidates — reformists said they were worst hit, with the barring of the most prominent politicians leaving them with many untested hopefuls — has raised concerns over turnout.

More than 6,000 candidates, including almost 600 women, are running for parliament. In the Assembly of Experts vote 161 clerics, all of them men, are seeking election.

On Wednesday, Rohani texted mobile phone users urging them to vote, saying participation was needed "to build the future of the country with plenty of hope," echoing the campaign message of his allies.

Reformists largely boycotted parliamentary elections four years ago in protest at the disputed re-election in 2009 of hardline conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The two reformist candidates in that ballot, Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, and Mehdi Karroubi, twice speaker of Iran's parliament, said Ahmadinejad won because of widespread vote fraud. — AFP


February 25, 2016
HIGHLIGHTS