| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Hassan Rouhani's victory in the June 2013 Iranian presidential election surprised many who expected that the Islamic regime's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would ensure a strong conservative candidate would win. With most candidates - including former President Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Mashaie, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's preferred successor - disqualified by the Guardian Council, the approved slate consisted of eight men. Two would subsequently withdraw, leaving a choice among six candidates on election day. Of these, Rouhani was the only candidate who could be described as a moderate. Although it is not surprising that Iranian voters would support Rouhani in this field, the 2009 election had convinced many that the actual votes were irrelevant. Having overseen the consolidation of conservative control of Iran's elective offices, and having warned repeatedly that a "velvet revolution" posed the greatest threat to the regime, Ayatollah Khamenei seemed certain to engineer another conservative win. Therefore, the official announcement that Rouhani had secured an absolute majority of the votes, more than three times the total of any other candidate, to win the election without even a runoff was stunning.
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