Following the success of his bloc in Iran’s elections for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts, President Rouhani has turned to his priority of economic recovery.
In a press conference on Sunday night, Rouhani hailed the ballot in which the centrist-reformist List of Hope took a large minority of seats despite the Guardian Council’s disqualification of thousands of their candidate:
The Iranian nation once again amazed the world by their recent massive turn-out in the two elections….They went to the polls to once again show their trust in their establishment, their leadership, and their administration.
However, his headline assertion was an assurance of success in rebuilding Iran’s economy, crippled by years of sanctions, mismanagement, and corruption: “I promise next year will be a much better one in terms of economic situation and public welfare.”
Since taking office in August 2013, the Rouhani Government has reduced inflation from more than 40% to less than 15%, and it has checked the decline in Iran’s GDP. However, growth is still marginal, production has yet to recover, and the currency is still only a third of its value in 2011.
With the lifting of US and European Union sanctions, the Government is hoping to reduce the 40% fall in oil exports since 2012, but it faces the 75% drop in global prices in the past 21 months. Rouhani and his advisors say they have responded by reducing Iranian reliance on oil, with diversification of non-oil revenues.
Still, Rouhani was cautious about immediate prospects, saying that Iran “will need several more months” to restore oil exports lost since the escalation of sanctions in 2012.
He predicted Iran’s oil exports, which have been about 1.4 million barrels per day since 2014, to reach 2 million bpd before September.
Meanwhile, the President called for unity between the Government and the new Parliament for progress:
As people want the three branches of the establishment to make haste and get together to solve their problems, thus the two Executive and Legislative branches also should get united and follow a single national goal….
It is time to step forward to pave the way for morality, people’s rights, their welfare, national power and a brilliant future for all walks of life in our country.
However, he could not resist a jab at the Guardian Council and any conservative and hardline opponents:
Whatever action was taken concerning the elections — including the rejection of some of the hopefuls’ eligibility to run in the polls, was within the framework of the law. This means political maturity of the nation.
For this very reason, the nation opted for the moderate candidates to once again show its support to moderates.
Conservatives have a small lead over the centrist-reformist bloc in seats won so far in the 290-member Parliament; however, the balance of power rests on independents and the 69 run-off ballots in April.
