Lausanne strengthens hand of Iran's reformers in next election

For many Iranians, the interim agreement is not about the number of centrifuges or level of uranium enrichment. It’s an opportunity to reengage with the world and resume reforms through the ballot box.



The day after the declaration in Lausanne, Hassan Rouhani’s Instagram feed displayed a short video of him repeating a line from his presidential campaign. “It’s lovely for centrifuges to spin, provided the wheels of the country are also spinning,” he says with a mischievous smile. In other words, as the Americans say, “It’s about the economy, stupid.” The economy and so much more.
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But more profoundly, for those Iranians who decided to vote in the last presidential elections, it is a vindication of their choice to leave the bloodied streets of Tehran after the disputed 2009 election and instead occupy the ballot boxes in 2012. It is their prize for maintaining their faith in the limited power of their vote. Doubly so, as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s guarded but continued support for the negotiators may be read as tacit approval for a departure from the previous presidency’s militancy. The last election, even in its limited choice of a selection, has proved useful as an opinion poll swaying the leader towards the wishes of the populace, especially those of Iran’s highly educated and aspiring youth. The Iranian electorate in the past two decades has demonstrated increasing political maturity; maybe this pragmatic wisdom is seeping upwards.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2015/apr/09/lausanne-strengthens-hand-of-irans-reformers-in-next-election