Iran elections: Hardliners lose parliament to Rouhani allies

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Run-off elections have given moderates and reformists a working majority in the Iranian parliament for the first time in more than a decade.

Supporters of President Hassan Rouhani won 42% of the total seats - short of an outright majority but comfortable enough to pass his legislative plans.

Independents took nearly 30% and many of them are said to be reform-minded.

Hardliners won just under a third of seats in a humiliating performance, a BBC correspondent reports.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36178276

[MADem]

1. This, actually, is a HUGE deal, even though it's not democracy.

The Guardians pick who is "allowed" to run, so this is a referendum on a universe of candidates that is limited by seven old guys with bad attitudes.

That said, it does suggest that the country is moving, glacially, back to an attitude of reform and perhaps one day, openness.

Thanks for posting this!

[RiverNoord]

3. I agree entirely.

Kind of a sea change underway.

Rouhani certainly isn't anything like what we would consider 'liberal,' but he is a pragmatist and has a very definite reformist agenda. And Khameni isn't stepping in to stop him - I wonder if either that ship has sailed or he welcomes the changes...

[MADem]

6. I think the Green Revolution scared the living daylights out of the Guardians! nt

[RiverNoord]

13. Think so?

Personally, I doubt it. I think it probably just represented an opportunity for the basji to really let loose beat up demonstrators.

And a very significant number of demonstrators were apparently motivated by the buffoonery of Ahmadinejad, who Khameni was really fed up with anyway.

Of course, I could be completely wrong. It's something I'm really good at

[WhiteTara]

2. Great. Now if we can keep the repugs out of our government

so that they are not a majority, we might have a more peaceful world.

[McKim]

12. We Need to Keep Hillary Out of Our Govt. Too

Hillary needs to be kept out of our govt. too she has called Iran our enemy over and over. She would even maybe start a war with them,just when they are starting to create their own democracy movement! Don't give her a chance to start more trouble!

[RiverNoord]

14. You mean you expect us to manage our

Republic, the government of which is based on representative democracy, as well as Iranians manage theirs?

The Supreme Leader of Iran, who can override literally any initiative of any other Iranian government official, is appointed by a 'Guardian Council,' half of whom are directly appointed by the Supreme Leader, and the other half of whom are elected by the Iranian Parliament, from among candidates appointed by the Head of the Judicial Power, who, in turn, was appointed by the Supreme Leader.

And we, on the other hand, have a Constitution that explicitly declares that all government officials are subject to removal by other government officials if they do bad things, establishes a balance of powers separating the Executive, Legislative and Judicial functions of government, and provides each of them with certain checks against the excesses of one of the others.

So, on the one hand, a theological state with absolute authority vested in the hands of a very few religious scholars, and on the other hand, a carefully planned system designed to ensure that the government of the country is answerable to its citizens.

And yet, our elected officials are, on the whole, vastly more corrupt than government officials in Iran.

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Wait...

[felix_numinous]

4. K&R Very good news nt

[potone]

5. Oh, this is good news!

I hope that this will be the beginning of the rise of moderate forces within Iran.

[bbgrunt]

7. great news. k and r

[DallasNE]

8. What Is This Election Really Telling Us

Why would Iran be voting in this manner now? What could be behind this? Is Russian influence waning in Iran? There appears to be a number of loser here but who are the winners, really.

The one item that looms large here is the agreement Iran signed to end their mission for nuclear weapons. I see this election as largely a referendum on this agreement - the very agreement Republican would all rip to shreds. I am sure I am not the only one making this assessment.

[world wide wally]

9. This. ^

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. Yup.

[Jitter65]

11. This is telling us that the Obama was right and Hillary's push for sanctions as SOS was right also.

Say what you will, we are going to miss Obama when he is gone.