Wait I thought Iranian elections were rigged. I guess they're magically not rigged if pro-western people win them. Amazing.

That most definitely seems like the outlook of the Western media. Many sources expected that all the disqualifications the Guardian Council has been making would only serve the "hard-liners," but it seems even Khamenei can't silence the Iranian people or the policies they really support.

Right, like I said, the outcome reflects the authentic views of the Iranian people so long as it's the outcome you and the west wants. If your side lost you'd be screaming about how the elections are a farce.

The media certainly would. I would say it was Khamenei's campaign that convinced people he is why they're better off instead of Rouhani's policies. Not many westerners are willing to acknowledge they're quite possibly the most democratic country in the region, including Israel (no one likes Netanyahu). The only really "rigged" election I can think of from Iran was the Ahmedinijad win in 2009. The hard-liners have won the other institutions since then by democratic means. This election was almost uphill battle for both sides. The establishment vs a policy-maker who made Iranian lives easier by helping get sanctions lifted. I watched with anticipation.

The "hardliner vs reformist" narrative is a false one created by the western press who sees everything through the prism of ideological competition and horse races. The chief negotiator for Iran, Dr. Zarif, who imo deserves the most credit for getting the JCPA approved, was approved by a "hardliner" dominated parliament in 2013 as minister of foreign affairs. Khamanei has had much better relations with Rouhani than he ever did with Ahmadinejad, who was also designated a "hardliner".

I agree. Many of those the West is happy about winning seats in Tehran are conservative, they just happen to also side with Rouhani on the nuclear deal. That issue is largely what this election has come down to. But it is a major issue and the way the Iranian government comes down on it could change their future. It's an embarrassment in regards to Khamenei's policy in that it does position Iran's economy closer to the West and in favor of capitalism.

Khamanei is not anti-capitalist. In fact he has pushed for privatization of most major industries in 2006. He sees the economy as a target of Iran's adversaries and wants to strengthen Iran's capacity for withstanding such pressure in the future by diversifying its industries and allowing space for private sector growth. Rouhani and Ahmadinejad broadly agree on this point.

Sorry Rouhani and Khamanei that is.

They agree on privatization, but not on with whom they want to trade.

If, after all the votes are counted, Rouhani's coalition doesn't do as well as he hoped (he doesn't even hope for a majority, just at least 100 seats), it could largely be due to the rural vote. They've shown themselves capable of winning an urban center like Tehran, but I'm not sure how that will translate to the rest of the country.

I'd love to hear what Iranians are saying about this election.

@Putin, yes these elections are just a rigged. Only approved candidates can run.

That said, how undemocratic Iran is happens to be something i'm convinced about. (Similarily i would argue that China is a lot more democratic than people give it credit for, a one party system seems a lot less fake than the US two-party system where both parties are bought by the same money; unless Trump/ Sanders get elected and actually manage to change things... That might be interesting.)

When every election turns into an opportunity for foreign intervention and manipulation, yeah not every traitor and puppet can run in the election. Every country has a vetting process of some kind. Iran's is more stringent because as was seen in 2009 it's always a target for a color revolution.

People in the west think democracy is passive consumption - i.e. voting every once and a while. Countries that actively encourage more daily participation as citizens are depicted as totalitarian.

"Every country has a vetting process of some kind."
For example, part of America's will be taking place very publicly this Tuesday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67DllsQHnGI

52 seats in the Assembly of Experts now belong to Rouhani and his supporters. I really wasn't expecting that much. I mean, maybe pick up a few seats, but I still expected some more conservative views in the majority on this one. Still not enough to choose the successor to Khamenei though, so they'll have to convince 7 of the somewhat more conservative clerics to choose someone they want. But this is also a matter of religion more so than it is politics (why I didn't expect Rouhani's people to pick up a majority), so I'm not sure we can expect that to work. Still though, I don't expect a reformist Supreme Leader any time soon. Nor do I think the Iranian people are really dedicated to that.

And CBS is reporting that the coalition that supports the nuclear deal have won 158 seats so far. That one is split between reformists and conservatives, but it's a full scale win for Rouhani's future.

Rouhani making this a one-issue election is what I contribute to a lot of his success here. If it were a social policy-based election, the reformers would lose and Rouhani's supporters wouldn't look at all the same. Reformist social policy is going to lose anyway.

Although it isn't news that Iranian elections are relatively democratic, these elections are a promising development. Perhaps we will see a political 'transition' which legalizes underground secular parties such as the National Front or the Tudeh Party and abolishes the death penalty. One can only hope that such conditions are being sowed.

That won't be soon though. This "victory" is based on support for Rouhani's economic policies. The conservatives and hardliners still together outnumber the reformers, so social change isn't going to come around especially in those directions.

"52 seats in the Assembly of Experts now belong to Rouhani and his supporters."

Rouhani's faction has 22 out of 88 seats and Rafsanjani (Rouhani's mentor and the likely successor now to Khamanei) has 29.

It seems some anti-Iran people in the West are sticking to their guns on this election also being a sham, saying that these results don't go to support the moderates the way the media says. I agree with the latter sentiment, but I do consider this election, like all their elections after Ahmedinejad's win in 2009, fully legitimate and relatively democratic.

Putin: Not all the people who support Rouhani in the Majlis election are from his faction either. Rouhani's faction and Rafsanjani's faction were closely associated this election as allies and picked up a majority together in the Assembly of Experts.

Of course, they're the same people who have been calling for the destruction of Iran since the days of Khatami. They don't think Rafsanjani and the comprador bourgeoisie of Iran can be trusted to do their bidding for them and sell out Iran's wealth to the West from within the government. The don't think that the British media's lockstep alliance with the Rafsanjani/Rouhani crowd makes the latter reliable. They are very sad that their color revolution in 2009 failed miserably and are now incensed that Iran has defeated the sanctions. If they acknowledge Iran's elections as legitimate than then what are they left with? What enemy could they beat the drums of war in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and elsewhere for? What possible reason could they have for steamrolling over the Palestinians? Their reason d'etre would be destroyed.