The Iranian president has commended the people’s choice in electing moderates in the elections, saying that choice will translate into prosperity for the country in the coming year.
At a meeting on Sunday March 6, Rohani said that the people chose moderates from among all the existing factions, which sends a strong message that in a continuation of the 2003 presidential election, the people are supporting “policies of moderation”.
He thanked all those who supported the moderate camp by sending audio and video messages to encourage voters to go to the polling stations.
While reformists and moderates were widely denied regular forms of outreach to the electorate, many reformists including former president Mohammad Khatam sent messages through mobile social-networking sites such as Telegram to encourage people to vote reformist.
Rohani stressed that his administration has been dealing with dire economic problems in view of the declining price of oil, which has cut Iran’s revenues by 100 billion dollars, a loss that cannot even be remedied by increasing international oil sales now that the sanctions against Iran have been lifted.
He said, however, that his government has been able to reign in inflation and affect relative economic growth, and he predicted continued growth in the coming years.
Despite Rohani’s promises, his administration is still facing a budget shortfall of 45 trillion toumans.
