Yesterday Iran's interior ministry announced that reformist minded cleric Rouhani won the Iranian presidency with 50.7 percent of the popular vote (law stipulaes that if one candidate doesn't eceive 50% the two top candidates must participate in a run-off).
I honestly was extremely surprised! I had kind of expected that a run off would be forced and that a conservative candidate would ultimately succeed.
It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes occur in Iranian foreign policy now.
Showing posts with label Iran Election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran Election. Show all posts
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
News Post June 11, 2013 (Haddad Adel Withdraws from Presidential Race)
An interesting development occurred yesterday in the run up to Iran's Presidential Election on Friday. One of the conservative candidates, Haddad-Adel, withdrew his name from contention. Below are some excerpts from the BBC Persian article. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2013/06/130610_ir92_hadad_election.shtml)
He (Haddad Adel) had also said about the possibility of withdrawing in favor of Saeed Jalili,
or one of the other candidates in the election for the presidency of the Iranian Republic: "In the current conditions I don't feel it is necessary to withdraw in favor of any candidate."
(Haddad Adel) is an advisor to the leader of the Islamic Republic, and since 1387 (2008) has been a representative from Tehran in the Majlis (Iranian Parliament). During this period he has been the president of that body.
همچنین: Too, as well
در مورد: About
احتمال: Possibility
کنارهگیری: To withdraw
وی: His (Soheil pointed out that this word is commonly used in Iranian print and is more formal/respectful)
به نفع: In favor of
از: From (one of)
دیگر: Other
نامزدان: Candidates
انتخابات: Election
ریاست جمهوری ایران: President of the Iranian Republic
گفته بود: Had said (past perfect tense)
شرایط: Conditions
فعلی: Current
بنده: Servant (Instead of using 'I' here, Haddad calls himself servant. It's kind of a ta'rouf way of referring to oneself)
هیچ: Any, nothing
ضرورت: Necessity
حساس کردن: To feel
مشاور: Consultant, advisor
رهبر: Leader
جمهوری اسلامی: Islamic Republic
۱۳۸۷: 1387 (The current year by the Iranian calendar is 1392)
تاکنون: Until now
به عنوان: As (position)
نماینده: Representative
مجلس: Iranian Parliament
دوره ای: Period of time
آن: That
به عهده داشتن: To be in charge of
او همچنین در مورد احتمال کنارهگیری وی به نفع سعید جلیلی، از دیگر نامزدان انتخابات ریاست جمهوری ایران گفته بود: "در شرایط فعلی بنده هیچ ضرورتی برای کنارهگیری به نفع هیچ کاندیدایی احساس نمیکنم
غلامعلی حداد عادل، مشاور رهبر جمهوری اسلامی است و از ۱۳۸۷ تاکنون به عنوان نماینده تهران در مجلس ایران حضور داشته و در دوره ای ریاست آن را به
عهده داشته است
Translation and Vocab:
He (Haddad Adel) had also said about the possibility of withdrawing in favor of Saeed Jalili,
(Haddad Adel) is an advisor to the leader of the Islamic Republic, and since 1387 (2008) has been a representative from Tehran in the Majlis (Iranian Parliament). During this period he has been the president of that body.
همچنین: Too, as well
در مورد: About
احتمال: Possibility
کنارهگیری: To withdraw
وی: His (Soheil pointed out that this word is commonly used in Iranian print and is more formal/respectful)
به نفع: In favor of
از: From (one of)
دیگر: Other
نامزدان: Candidates
انتخابات: Election
ریاست جمهوری ایران: President of the Iranian Republic
گفته بود: Had said (past perfect tense)
شرایط: Conditions
فعلی: Current
بنده: Servant (Instead of using 'I' here, Haddad calls himself servant. It's kind of a ta'rouf way of referring to oneself)
هیچ: Any, nothing
ضرورت: Necessity
حساس کردن: To feel
مشاور: Consultant, advisor
رهبر: Leader
جمهوری اسلامی: Islamic Republic
۱۳۸۷: 1387 (The current year by the Iranian calendar is 1392)
تاکنون: Until now
به عنوان: As (position)
نماینده: Representative
مجلس: Iranian Parliament
دوره ای: Period of time
آن: That
به عهده داشتن: To be in charge of
Monday, June 10, 2013
News Post June 10, 2013
The Last Iranian Presidential Debate
The last debate before Iran's presidential election was held this past Friday, and the event was certainly more spirited than the previous two sessions.
The part I'd like to focus on is the sharp exchange that occurred between Rouhani (a reformist and cleric) and Ghalibaf (current mayor of Tehran and a conservative). It can be seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoJJnAi_hzw
After Rouhani made a comment about providing peace for Iranians, Ghalibaf criticized him for his handling of student protests in 2003 when Rouhani was Secretary of the National Security Council. This kicked off an exchange where the two candidates traded remarks about their own versions of how the situation was handled (Ghalibaf was the head of police at the time).
In the clip, Ghalibaf says Rouhani denied granting the students in question permission to protest in 2003. Rouhani counters by saying he was concerned that if the he granted them permission and they left campus, the police under Ghalibaf would arrest all of them. Rouhani goes on to say that he wasn't concerned about the students because he felt they would dissipate in a few days time.
The exchange continued in this manner, with the candidates giving conflicting accounts of events, neither of which can really be verified. Hopefully the high energy of this debate will help capture Iranian interest, which had been low, in the elections which are now just 4 days away.
The last debate before Iran's presidential election was held this past Friday, and the event was certainly more spirited than the previous two sessions.
The part I'd like to focus on is the sharp exchange that occurred between Rouhani (a reformist and cleric) and Ghalibaf (current mayor of Tehran and a conservative). It can be seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoJJnAi_hzw
After Rouhani made a comment about providing peace for Iranians, Ghalibaf criticized him for his handling of student protests in 2003 when Rouhani was Secretary of the National Security Council. This kicked off an exchange where the two candidates traded remarks about their own versions of how the situation was handled (Ghalibaf was the head of police at the time).
In the clip, Ghalibaf says Rouhani denied granting the students in question permission to protest in 2003. Rouhani counters by saying he was concerned that if the he granted them permission and they left campus, the police under Ghalibaf would arrest all of them. Rouhani goes on to say that he wasn't concerned about the students because he felt they would dissipate in a few days time.
The exchange continued in this manner, with the candidates giving conflicting accounts of events, neither of which can really be verified. Hopefully the high energy of this debate will help capture Iranian interest, which had been low, in the elections which are now just 4 days away.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
News Post June 3, 2013
The first Iranian Presidential debate occurred three days ago and featured all eight candidates. The debate was not without controversy, though, as several of the participants called the format into question. The following articles discuss the debate and the aforementioned controversy.
The first article comes from the BBC's Persian language site, www.bbc.co.uk/persian.
The first article comes from the BBC's Persian language site, www.bbc.co.uk/persian.
 |
Article Points:
The title translates: IQ Test (تست هوش) in First (نخستین) Debate (مناضره)
The subtitle in red translates loosely as: The candidates (نامزدها) prescription (نسخه) for healing(شفابخشي) the country's (کسور) economy (اقتصاد) was not given (تجويز نكردن) The full article in Ghanoon is much longer, but it essentially describes part of the debate's format which was structured as multiple choice questions. Candidates were prompted with a question by the debate moderator, and asked to respond with one of three answers (hence the tongue and cheek title 'IQ Test.' Several of the candidates called the format childish and refused to participate. Some journalists have speculated that the debate was structured in such a way to avoid any explosive confrontations, like the one that broke out between President Ahmadinejad and challenger Mousavi in 2009. As a little background, here is a link to the debate between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. Ahmadinejad, who was facing criticism following the discovery that one of his political appointees had lied about his possession of a doctoral degree, presented a file on Mousavi's wife. Ahmadinejad then claimed Mousavi's wife had falsely obtained her advanced degrees and then illegally secured a position as president of an Iranian university. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luvx4gwgdSg Also, here is a link to a collection of scenes from the last debate when things were breaking down and some candidates refused to answer questions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNOVvIbbuBU |
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
News Post: May 20 2013
My first news post includes two articles and comes from the Iranian news website Tabnak (tabnak.ir). Tabnak has the highest traffic of any news site in Iran and is generally considered a credible source. The site is associated with Mohsen Rezaee, the founder of the Revolutionary Guards and current head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council. That being the case, Tabnak could be classified as more conservative and close to the Iranian government.
A basic translation of this article's title is: Larkani withdraws his candidacy for the benefit of Jalili
This article goes on to describe how Larkani decided to end his candidacy in support of Presidential hopeful Saeed Jalili. Both men are very conservative and favored by Iranian leadership. Saeed Jalili is particularly notable for his position leading negotiations related to Iran's nuclear program. Support from other conservative candidates like Larkani, in conjunction with his favorable standing and notoriety, could make Jalili an extremely interesting candidate to watch in the coming weeks.
This article is a bit of a departure from the Iranian presidential race. The title mentions some comments made by the Iranian Minister of Communications regarding the earth's atmosphere. If you think, based on that, that the body of the article will describe the Minister's concerns about pollution or the climate, you're slightly off. The Minister states that an important discovery has been made regarding one layer of the earth's atmosphere. It has been determined, he claims, that pictures and sound can travel better through this particular layer of atmosphere. Most importantly, he goes on to assure that when the hidden Imam of Shia Islam reveals himself, he will be able to broadcast his message to the entire world using this atmospheric layer... The article's author not only calls the Minister out on the stupidity of his statements, but criticizes him for tying important religious figures to wild claims easily proven incorrect.
This article goes on to describe how Larkani decided to end his candidacy in support of Presidential hopeful Saeed Jalili. Both men are very conservative and favored by Iranian leadership. Saeed Jalili is particularly notable for his position leading negotiations related to Iran's nuclear program. Support from other conservative candidates like Larkani, in conjunction with his favorable standing and notoriety, could make Jalili an extremely interesting candidate to watch in the coming weeks.
This article is a bit of a departure from the Iranian presidential race. The title mentions some comments made by the Iranian Minister of Communications regarding the earth's atmosphere. If you think, based on that, that the body of the article will describe the Minister's concerns about pollution or the climate, you're slightly off. The Minister states that an important discovery has been made regarding one layer of the earth's atmosphere. It has been determined, he claims, that pictures and sound can travel better through this particular layer of atmosphere. Most importantly, he goes on to assure that when the hidden Imam of Shia Islam reveals himself, he will be able to broadcast his message to the entire world using this atmospheric layer... The article's author not only calls the Minister out on the stupidity of his statements, but criticizes him for tying important religious figures to wild claims easily proven incorrect.
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