It's day five since Hassan Rouhani was declared winner of Iran's 10th presidential elections and the country's state-owned TV channels are still obsessed with the man. The 64-year-old politician, lawyer, academic and diplomat is everywhere on the six national channels, along with international channels. Iranian television is repeatedly showing Rouhani raising a bouquet of flowers attached to a cardboard key. The key was the symbolic object used by Rouhani during his presidential campaign to convey the metaphorical message that he knows how to open locked doors. The doors in question include failed nuclear negotiations and Iran's ruined or strained relations with almost the entire world, including its Arab neighbours. There's also the country's shattered economy. The deadlock over Iran's nuclear programme with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) has led to the harshest sanctions imposed against the nation since the 1979 Revolution. Sanctions on Iran's banking system and oil exporting sector have paralysed the entire economy for years. The broad TV coverage of Rouhani's electoral victory is an effort to impress Iranians with his strong political background and make them confident or hopeful about the county's future The perhaps too optimistic message being conveyed to the electorate is that peace, trust and order will be restored if Rouhani gets the support he needs to take on the leadership of Iran. Rouhani won outright with 18.6 million votes, or 52 per cent, without the need for runoffs, contrary to predictions. Voter turnout was high at 72.2 per cent. Despite the confrontational diplomacy pursued by Iran in the past eight years, leaving the Islamic Republic more isolated from foreign countries than ever since the revolution, the election of Rouhani is evidence of a change in policy. Of course, improving foreign relations needs hard work, and progress first and foremost on the nuclear file. Said Jalili, who led the nuclear talks for the past seven years, entered into the presidential race. Televised debates between the candidates gave people opportunity to understand what Jalili and his team have been doing over these years. Jalili was not only attacked and questioned by the two reformist candidates, he was even sharply criticised by the conservative candidate, Ali Akbar Velayati, who is a top aide to the Ayatollah Ali Khameni, the supreme leader. When Velayati harshly criticised Jalili for his mishandling of nuclear negotiations, the momentum of the election was born and the nation awakened. Iranians, who assumed that Jalili was the favoured candidate of the supreme leader, and so planned to vote for him, seem to have made a swift shift at the eleventh hour. The conservative part of the society, which traditionally votes for conservative candidates, suddenly got the hint from Velayati that the supreme leader was unhappy with Jalili's performance. Ayatollah Khamenei released another coded message during public speeches before the election. “I don't have any favouritism, and no one knows ever whom I am going to vote for.” By then, the typical religious conservatives felt more freedom to choose who they believed was better for the nation, and of course for the system, from their point of view. Rouhani met most of the requirements for this part of society, and also reformists. In a surprise move, the religious city of Qom — the base of support for conservatives — voted 100 per cent for Rouhani. A turbaned cleric who worked with Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, years before the 1979 uprising, Rouhani is highly educated and famous for being sharp and thorough. He served as Ayatollah Khamenei's representative in the National Security Council, and for many with different political affiliations he was the best choice. Among the various reasons the reformist vote went to him, despite his Khamenei affiliation, is when presidential contender Mohamed Reza Aref (a reformist backed by former President Mohamed Khatami) stepped out of the race to endorse him. At this point, many observers credit former President Hashemi Rafsanjani for Rouhani's victory. While Khatami backed Aref, and Rafsanjani supported Rouhani, it was Rafsanjani who persuaded Khatami to ask Aref to pull out the race. Velayati, as Ayatollah Khamenei's trustworthy advisor in international affairs, also played a major role damaging Jalili's reputation and breaking down his popularity publicly. When it came to the endorsement, Rafsanjani praised Velayati as a great candidate, but he indicated that Rouhani was greater and that he would vote for him. The nomination of Hashemi or Khatami as presidential candidates could be perceived as overthrowing the system or decreasing Khamenei's authority, neither of which served his interests. If neither of these popular figures could run, their representatives could. Aref and Rouhani represented both factions that finally created the coalition for Rouhani. The new president is a safe choice in between, and if he is willing to work closely with the supreme leader, many opportunities are available to him. It won't be surprising if in the near future Velayati is appointed as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator. Rouhani needs to work with many different keys to open many locked doors.
