Tehran, Iran – Iran’s eighth president has been elected and announced. Conservative judiciary head, Ebrahim Raisi has replaced Hassan Rouhani. He won 61.95 percent of the vote in Friday’s election. As official figures declared, a voter turnout of 48.8 percent has been seen. The lowest turnout for a presidential election since the 1979 revolution.
Raisi will join the office at the start of August, substituting President Hassan Rouhani. Hassan Rouhani was not permitted by the constitution to run in a row for a third consecutive term.
Read About: Withdrawal of US from Afghanistan and its Foreign Policy Goals; An Analysis
“I congratulate the people on their choice,” said Rouhani on Saturday.
Raisi’s election puts a seal on a consolidation of power by the conservative and extreme wing. It already controls the parliament and will probably have a replacement for the judiciary as well.
The Muslim scholar wears a black turban to signify he is a descendent of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. He is also seen as the country’s next supreme leader.
The United States has sanctioned Raisi, making him the first Iranian president who has been sanctioned even before assuming office. He was designated in 2019.
He is blacklisted by the United States for his part in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988. His involvement in the crackdown on the 2009 Green Movement protests was also disturbing. Also, “administration of oversight over the executions of individuals who were juveniles at the time of their crime”.
Who is Ebrahim Raisi:
Raisi was brought up in the northeastern city of Mashhad. It is an important religious centre for Shia Muslims where the eighth Shia religious leader,Imam Reza is buried.
He attended the seminary in Qom and studied under some of Iran’s most prominent Muslim scholars. Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei was one of his preachers.
Being appointed deputy prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi moved to the capital, Tehran, after becoming the prosecutor for several jurisdictions in 1985.
Read About: Iranian vote to chose their fate: presidential election on the horizon
In March 2016, he was appointed by the supreme leader as the guardian of the Astan-e Quds Razavi,the influential shrine of Imam Reza. He moved up the ranks in the judicial system, where he controlled billions of dollars in assets.
He was unsuccessful in the elections of 2017 against Rouhani, gathering 38 percent of the vote.
Raisi had assured to build on Iran’s economy that is ailing under US sanctions. Moreover, corona virus pandemic has worsened decades along infrastructural issues caused by local mismanagement.
Earlier this month,Raisi, during the presidential debates, said that he will uphold the leading light given to him as any other state commitment. Looking back, he previously opposed Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
He did, however, stated that he will form a “strong” government to navigate the agreement in the fair direction.
