TEHRAN: Moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani hailed his win in Iran’s presidential election as a victory over “extremism” as thousands of supporters celebrated in the streets into the early hours yesterday.
Major powers quickly offered to engage with the former nuclear negotiator, who has promised a more constructive approach to talks, but Israel called for no let-up in Western sanctions that have bitten the Iranian economy hard.
Iran’s reformist press hailed Rowhani as the “sheikh of hope” and said his victory promised a return to optimism after the eight-year grip of conservatives under outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Tens of thousands of celebrators took to the streets of Tehran, toting pictures of 64-year-old Rowhani and chanting pro-reform slogans as news of his victory spread. Many were dressed in purple, Rowhani’s campaign colour, and others in green, the colour of the reformist movement.
Rowhani was declared outright winner with 50.68 percent of votes cast in Friday’s election.
In his first statement after his win was confirmed, he called on world powers to treat Iran with respect and recognise its rights, an apparent allusion to its controversial nuclear programme.
“This is a victory of intelligence, of moderation, of progress... over extremism,” Rowhani said.
“A new opportunity has been created by this great epic, and the nations who tout democracy and open dialogue should speak to the Iranian people with respect and recognise the rights of the Islamic republic.”
Then they will “hear an appropriate response,” he added. Rowhani is a former top nuclear negotiator who has championed a more constructive engagement with world powers. He won outright against five conservative candidates with 18.6 million votes out of the 36.7 million people who voted from an electorate of 50.5 million, the interior ministry said.
That was enough to ensure there would be no run-off against Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who came a distant second with 6.07 million votes, or 16.55 percent. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all strategic matters in Iran, including nuclear policy, congratulated Rowhani. “I urge everyone to help the president-elect and his colleagues in the government, as he is the president of the whole nation,” Khamenei said on his website.
Reformist daily Etemad headlined: “A salute to Ir0an and to the sheikh of hope,” above a picture of a smiling Rowhani flashing a V-for-victory sign. Conservative newspaper Jomhuri Eslami said his win was “Iran’s yes to moderation and no to extremism”.
World powers expressed readiness to take up Rowhani’s offer of engagement. Rowhani said during his campaign that he was ready to hold bilateral talks with Washington on Tehran’s nuclear programme, “difficult” as that would be after decades of enmity.
He has also offered to restore diplomatic ties with the United States, which cut relations in the aftermath of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy by Islamist students. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who acts as chief negotiator for the six powers involved in the current nuclear talks, said she was committed to working with Rowhani to find a “swift diplomatic solution”.AFP
