Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran's hardline conservative mayor, has won the Iranian presidential election with a landslide of 61.8%, according to Iran's Interior Ministry.  "The figures show that Ahmadinejad is the winner," Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said to reporters. His rival Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani received 35.7% of the vote. An estimated 23 million votes were cast -- making voter turnout nearly 49 per cent. This runoff is the first since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. 
Ahmadinejad was seen as the underdog and was not expected to make it into the runoff, but active campaigning by his supporters and their crossing of class barriers propelled him into the runoff and ultimately into the presidency. He had the political support of low-income workers, vigilante groups and militias while calling for a return to the ideals of the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Ahmadinejad is a former commander in the Revolutionary Guard, former provincial governor of Maku and  then Ardabil. As an ardent and loyal supporter of the ruling clerics and the Ayotollah Ali Khamenei, his appointment as mayor of Tehran by the city council surprised few.
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Public domain
Public domain
false
false
Hardliner wins Iran presidential runoff