- Uncertainty about the candidates
- short campaign time (this was intentional)
- faulty polls (most of the polls were putting Qalibaf as the front-runner, Rowhani was not even in the list of the top three candidates)
- uncertainty about the voters (Iranians were very much undecided about their candidates.
- Also, many voters said they would be staying at home and not participating in the election) and
- western journalists/news media claiming they were not getting proper authorization to travel to Iran or bared from reporting in some cases (through threats and intimidation).
The Election Day started with Iran’s most famous VIP, the supreme leader (Rahbar) himself, casting his vote early morning. He said that not even his kids know whom he is voting for. This is so unlike four years ago where he specifically endorsed Ahmadinejad for the second term. The plan backfired and Ahmadinejad turned out to be the biggest thorn on his side. So, maybe this time he’s wise to keep quiet about his favorite choice. He urged all Iranians to vote even those who are not very supportive of the system/government (I rephrased what he said). And of course, no interview with Khamenei would ever be perfect without the obligatory condemnation of the west; Khamenei said ‘To Hell With you’ to the western powers who dared question the selection of their candidates and for saying how undemocratic their political system really is.
I was watching interviews with Iranians who were already in lines at the voting centers. A number of Iranians who initially said they were not planning to vote showed up anyway because they were persuaded by their family and friends. Many Iranians who voted for Rowhani said they want to see someone moderate for a change. Others who voted for Rowhani believe while he may not be the best candidate but they are still voting for him because he’s using a slightly different tone from other candidates. A lot of Rowhani’s supporters were among those who were worried about the economy, western backed sanction and personal freedom. Overall, no matter who the Iranians were voting for, they all said that coming out to vote is a social event or showing of the solidary for their country.
Guess who showed up in the late afternoon. The infamous ex-President of Iran, Ahmadinejad. I was expecting him to act like a punk but apparently he was somewhat subdued this time. I guess he’s no more than a toothless tiger now that he’s tenure is almost over and his plan to cling to power via his successor’s failed after it was foiled by the hardliners who saw him as a threat to their way of life. Though I still wonder what’s the future going to hold for him. The political outlook doesn’t look good for him since the reformists are now in the office of Presidency. And he had already burned all the bridges with the conservatives/hardliners.
The voting hours were extended at least four times right up to 11 pm. The result that was supposed to be announced at 3am was postponed until 8am Saturday. A lot of people were surprised at the hold-up. The result from 2009 Presidential election was announced within the two/three hours after the closure of voting centers. I’ve seen some people again expressing doubt and suspicious about the 2009 Presidential election and comparing with the clear victory for the reformists.
I woke up early on Saturday morning and tuned to Press TV (English) hoping to catch some live Iranian election reporting. I was very disappointed after awhile. PressTV was not covering the most important event in Iran! Their own election. They had news about a protest in Jordan. I initially thought the protest was about something very important because well..it had to be important to pre-empt their own election coverage. Nope, it was just a regular protest about Jordanians being unhappy with their economy. Okay, so I waited.
The next news item was a sandcastle competition in a European country. Then the news turned to hot air balloons. I was getting very impatient by then. Come on, where’s the election news. All they had was news ticker showing candidate’s vote count. But no real live TV coverage. I hardly watch Press TV. My last attempt to watch it was a year and half ago. I don’t think it covered anything I was interested in back then. I was hoping that at least this time as the official Iranian news channel, PressTV should have a monopoly on election coverage. But no such thing. For some reason, they were not interested in broadcasting their own election live and I guess I was in no mood to watch anything other than Iranian Presidential Election. The news section ended. A documentary about pig farming (Pig Business) was then aired. Argghh…this was getting hopeless. I turned off the TV and went online.
When the counting began to show a clear lead favoring Rowhani, people were ecstatic and very much in celebratory mode. Soon enough, the announcement came in that Rowhani had a clear victory and a mandate to form the next government. The online newspapers began showing Rowhani’s picture. I was reading news from a popular internet website. As soon as Rowhani’s picture emerged as the next President of Iran, the comments section was flaming with disappointing posts from users who didn’t know much about Iran’s politics. To them it was just a case of “Oh No! The Iranian Mullah won a victory for their regime”. Much later, some folks clarified that although Hassan Rowhani is dressed very much like a Mullah but his ideology is not aligned at all with the hardliners of Iran’s whose candidates are all dressed in western style suits (minus the tie because tie is a symbol of western imperialism :rolleyes: )
The Internet began to buzz with pictures and videos of celebration in Iran. Iranians were singing and dancing in the streets celebrating their victory. Congratulatory messages started coming in from the reformists. I’ve seen some people chanting support for Musavi and displaying sarcastic remarks about the 63% of the population who supposedly voted for Ahmadinejad's second term. Where are those people now? I’ve also seen remarks from people who hope Rowhani’s victory would guarantee a release of their political dissidents. Most of all people were hoping for a better life for the Iranians.
The conservatives/hardliners who had all of their candidates defeated, didn’t focus much on their defeat or say much about Rowhani’s victory or their gloomy outlook/future. Their newspapers on Saturday (and I didn’t read enough of them to form an objective opinion) painted the high voter turnout in the election as a victory against the west.
It’s too early to say how Rowhani’s presidency will look like. People are hopeful. We still have to wait and see.
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