Political upset in Iran

Moderate candidate and former minister of culture Mohammad Khatami, won the presidential election in Iran on Friday. Obtaining 67 percent of the votes, Khatami convincingly beat his closest rival, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, who enjoyed the support of the conservative camp.

This represents an interesting development, since it had been widely believed that Parliament Speaker Nateq-Nouri would emerge the winner in the election, in which some nine million voting-age Iranians cast their ballots. Nateq-Nouri is also known to be close to the country's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Considering the startling result, the election outcome has been described by observers as the biggest political upset in the history of the 18-year-old Iranian Republic. Whatever the backdrop, it is clear the moderate candidate emerged the winner. The choice also fell on Khatami because he was considered the more enlightened candidate.

All this indicates that after 18 years of living in a climate of revolution under strictly controlled conditions, the people of Iran are hankering for change. At the moment it is too early to say in what direction Khatami will lead Iran in the next four years. Nevertheless, the fact he was elected and the strength of his mandate -- which he won by two-thirds of the voters' ballots -- shows that his moderate character and his promise to promote freedom and tolerance has been well received by the majority of voters, or by most Iranians.

-- Kompas, Jakarta