New era in Iran
The unprecedented victory of the 54-year-old Mohammad Khatami in Iran's presidential election Friday was living proof of how democracy is at work in a country ruled by conservative Moslem clerics who have imposed strict religious laws in the country for the past 18 years.
Election results showed that Iranian voters gave the moderate Khatami 20.1 million votes, or nearly three times as many as those given to his conservative opponent, parliament speaker Nateq-Nouri, who got 7.2 million votes.
Khatami's victory seems to be timely as well as momentous.
Timely, because Iran cannot but keep up with the rapid pace of technological change and development together with the rest of the world in welcoming the 21st century. And change is what most Iranians demand.
Most analysts agree that the majority of voters who favored Khatami were young men and women who were born just before or after the 1979 revolution which turned Iran into an Islamic republic, where Islamic laws and strict regulations have since been adhered to, and that most decision-making regarding the country's policies had been in the hands of conservative Moslem clerics.
It stands to reason that young Iranians, who comprise 60 percent of Iran's population of 60 million, want to see change and greater cultural freedom and political liberalization after nearly two decades of strict Islamic reign.
Men want the freedom to wear jeans to work without it being considered as tainting the country's traditional culture and women want to wear makeup without breaking religious ethics. As reflected in news agencies' interviews with young voters, Iranians expect the moderate president-elect Khatami has a mandate to ease the state's intrusive checks on their daily life. They expect Khatami -- who will assume his presidential post in August to replace the outgoing Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- and his government will control inflation in the country which is running at more than 24 percent, and create more jobs to curb unemployment.
Khatami's landslide win is momentous because there will now be more opportunities for the Tehran government to mend fences with countries grouped in the European Union (EU). Iran's diplomatic wrangling with EU member countries began last month when they pulled their ambassadors from Tehran, following a German court's verdict alleging the involvement of Iranian leaders in the 1992 assassination of four Iranian dissidents in Berlin. Iran has strongly denied the allegation.
By improving ties with the EU and countries with whom Iran has strained relations, Tehran will be able to improve its economy as well its image and political role worldwide. It will also show the international community that adopting a hostile attitude toward oil-rich states such as Iran will not do them any good, especially now that Tehran is entering a new era of democracy.
Another sign of positive change in Iran is the pledge made by the conservative-dominated Majlis (parliament) to support Khatami's promised reform programs. This confirms that democracy is at work in the country knowing that even the hard-line clerics have respected the aspirations of the majority, reminding us of the Latin saying vox populi. vox Dei -- the voice of the people is the voice of God. In other words, they seem to agree that the will of the people must prevail.
Khatami's victory shows that, in Iran, the will of the people does prevail.