New opinion polls show Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to be in a strong position following the country’s Feb. 26 parliamentary elections. Among respondents, 81% of pro-Reformist voters and 61% of voters who cast ballots for independents said they voted for pro-Rouhani candidates. What is particularly noteworthy, however, is the broadening of the president’s base. Even among those who voted for the Principlists, half said they selected pro-Rouhani hopefuls. In all, 63% of those surveyed voted for candidates who support the administration, while just 22% voted for Rouhani critics.
The polling results are based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 15-24 and March 3-13 among representative samples of 1,016 and 1,005 Iranians, respectively, with a margin of error for both polls of +/-3.2%. IranPoll.com, an independent Toronto-based organization, conducted both surveys for the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM).
Ebrahim Mohseni, a research scholar at CISSM, observed, “President Rouhani did not actively campaign against any specific political group, and this appears to have paid off for him as he now has very broad-based support.” Such support, however, also means that no one faction appears to have the upper hand in the parliament. Of the Iranians who voted, only a third said they supported the Reformists, while an equal proportion said they backed the Principlists. Roughly a quarter said they cast ballots for independent candidates.
Given that Rouhani’s presidency has so far been significantly defined by the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, which resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed on July 14, 2015, it should be noted that one source of support for the administration stems from positive views of the deal struck with the six world powers.
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