Don't Expect Change

By Shaul Bakhash

Dr. Shaul Bakhash is a Professor at George Mason University.  He worked for many years as a journalist in Iran, writing for Tehran-based Kayhan Newspapers as well as for theLondon Times, the Financial Times, and the Economist. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and held fellowships at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton and other research centers.  He received his B. A. and M. A. from Harvard University and his D. Phil from Oxford University.

Iran’s February 26 elections for the Majlis, or parliament, and for the Assembly of Experts, a clerically-dominated 88-member body that will select the successor to Iran’s current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, was hailed as a victory for Iran’s moderates and an endorsement of President Hassan Rouhani’s centrist policies. There is substantial evidence to support this take on the elections, but commentators who have termed the elections as historic and as signaling a major shift in Iran’s political landscape surely go too far.

The elections, certainly in large and mid-sized urban centers, reflected strong middle class support for Rouhani’s policies, including the nuclear deal his government signed in July. The vote also suggests a rejection of right-wing extremism and xenophobia. Rouhani emerges in a stronger position. He will have an easier time securing legislation that encourages foreign investment; his ministers may face less harassment and attempts at impeachment by hardliners; and he has more scope to pursue normalization of relations with the international community.

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