The Presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad consists of the 9th and 10th governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government began in August 2005 after his election as the 6th president of Iran and continued after his re-election in 2009. Ahmadinejad left office in August 2013 at the end of his second term. His administration was succeeded by the 11th government, led by Hassan Rouhani.
In Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has seen controversy over policies such as his 2007 Gas Rationing Plan to reduce the country's fuel consumption, and cuts in maximum interest rates permitted to private and public banking facilities;مدیریت و" برنامه ریزی منحل ش" BBC Persian. Retrieved 29 July 2007. his widely disputed and protested election to a second term in 2009; and over the presence of a so-called "deviant current" among his aides and supporters that led to the arrest of several of them in 2011.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warns opponents against detaining ministers, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, The Guardian, 29 June 2011 Abroad, his dismissal of international sanctions against Iran's nuclear energy program, and his call for an end of the state of Israeli and description of the Holocaust as a myth, has drawn criticism.
Ahmadinejad's presidency
2005 campaign Ahmadinejad was not widely known when he entered the presidential election campaign, although he had already made his mark in Tehran for rolling back earlier reforms. He is a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Society of Engineers, but his key political support is inside the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (Abadgaran or Developers).
Ahmadinejad generally sent mixed signals about his plans for his presidency, perhaps to attract both religious conservatives and the lower economic classes. His campaign slogan was: "It's possible and we can do it".
In the campaign, he took a populist approach. He emphasized his own modest life, and compared himself with Mohammad Ali Rajai, Iran's second president. Ahmadinejad said he planned to create an "exemplary government for the people of the world" in Iran. He was a "principlist", acting politically based on Islamic and revolutionary principles. One of his goals was "putting the petroleum income on people's tables", meaning Iran's oil profits would be distributed among the poor.
Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States. He told Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting the United Nations was "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam."Brea, Jennifer. "Profile: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran." . Retrieved 31 August 2006. He opposed the veto power of the UN Security Council's five permanent members: "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege." He defended Iran's nuclear program and accused "a few arrogant powers" of trying to limit Iran's industrial and technological development in this and other fields.
In his second round campaign, he said, "We didn't participate in the revolution for turn-by-turn government.…This revolution tries to reach a world-wide government." He spoke of an extended program using trade to improve foreign relations, and called for greater ties with Iran's neighbours and ending visa requirements between states in the region, saying that "people should visit anywhere they wish freely. People should have freedom in their pilgrimages and tours."
Ahmadinejad described Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a senior cleric from Qom as his ideological and spiritual mentor. Mesbah founded the Haghani School of thought in Iran. He and his team strongly supported Ahmadinejad's 2005 presidential campaign.
2005 election
Ahmadinejad won 62 percent of the vote in the run-off poll against Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei authorized his presidency on 3 August 2005. Ahmedinejad kissed Khamenei's hand during the ceremony to show his loyalty.Clip DrIman CNN – at Tofoiran
2006 Councils and Assembly of Experts election
Ahmadinejad's team lost the 2006 city council elections, and his spiritual mentor, Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, was ranked sixth on the country's Assembly of Experts. In the first nationwide election since Ahmadinejad became president, his allies failed to dominate election returns for the Assembly of Experts and local councils. Results, with a turnout of about 60%, suggested a voter shift toward more moderate policies. According to an editorial in the Kargozaran independent daily newspaper, "The results show that voters have learned from the past and concluded that we need to support.. moderate figures." An Iranian political analyst said that "this is a blow for Ahmadinejad and Mesbah Yazdi's list."Blair, Edmund. "Results in Iranian Vote Seen as Setback for Ahmadinejad" Reuters. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
2009 presidential election
On 23 August 2008, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced that he "sees Ahmadinejad as president in the next five years," a comment interpreted as indicating support for Ahmadinejad's reelection."Renewed Power Struggle in Iran as the Presidential Elections Approach: Part I – Ahmadinejad's Revolutionary-Messianic Faction vs. Rafsanjani–Reformist Alliance." By: Y. Mansharof and A. Savyon* Iran|#488 | 26 December 2008 39,165,191 ballots were cast in the election on 12 June 2009, according to Iran's election headquarters. Ahmadinejad won 24,527,516 votes, (62.63%). In second place, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, won 13,216,411 (33.75%) of the votes. The election drew unprecedented public interest in Iran.
2009 Iranian presidential election protests
The election results were strongly disputed by both Mousavi and Ahmadinejad and their respective supporters who believed that electoral fraud occurred during the election. Street protests commenced the day after the election and continued off and on into 2010. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a "divine assessment,"Theocracy and its Discontents by Fareed Zakaria| newsweek| 20 June 2009 and formally endorsed Ahmadinejad as president on 3 August 2009. Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on 5 August 2009. Several Iranian political figures appeared to avoid the ceremony. Former presidents Mohammad Khatami, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is currently head of the Expediency Discernment Council, along with opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, did not attend the ceremony. Opposition groups asked protesters on reformist websites and blogs to launch new street demonstrations on the day of the inauguration ceremony. On inauguration day, hundreds of riot police met opposition protesters outside parliament. After taking the oath of office, which was broadcast live on Iranian state television, Ahmadinejad said that he will "protect the official faith, the system of the Islamic revolution and the constitution". France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States announced that they would not send the usual letters of congratulation. While addressing the 11th scientific and research meeting of university professors on 31 July 2009, president Ahmadinejad concluded: The June 12 presidential election ruined the dominance of wealth, political party system and media as tools of the hegemonic system and presented a new role model to the human race.Iran Daily
Domestic policy Economic policy
Ahmadinejad's economic policies have been described as populist, one of his campaign promises being to share out Iran's oil wealth more fairly.Iran’s vetting body reinstates candidates Financial Times. Reuters, 19 February 2008 He's also condemned global capitalism as an immoral system,Economic jihad| economist.com| 23 June 2011 and proclaimed that the "era of capitalist thinking" is over.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's top 5 quotes to the UN, 2005-2009: 5. 2009: 'The era of capitalist thinking is over'| Stephen Kurczy| csm.orgAhmadinejad Tells Activists He's anti-Capitalist | payvand.com| 14 October 2010 However, in December 2010 his administration embarked on a "sweeping reform" of state subsidies in place since the beginning of the Islamic Republic. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has called 2011 a "year of economic jihad", and the program has been applauded by the International Monetary Fund.
In Ahmadinejad's first four years as president, unemployment decreased due to a rise in income from oil exports as oil price rose on world markets."Iran's unemployment falls to 10.3 pct -minister" Reuters India. Retrieved 31 March 2008. His critics have charged that government spending has been inflationary. Ahmadinejad increased spending by 25 percent and has supported subsidies for food and gasoline. He also initially refused a gradual increase of petrol prices, saying that after making necessary preparations, such as a development of public transportation system, the government will free up petrol prices after five years.Bakhtiar, Abbas. "Ahmadinejad's Achilles Heel." Payvand. Retrieved 25 January 2007. Interest rates were cut by presidential decree to below the inflation rate. One unintended effect of this stimulation of the economy has been the bidding up of some urban real estate prices by two or three times their pre-Ahmadinejad value by Iranians seeking to invest surplus cash and finding few other safe opportunities. The resulting increase in the cost of housing has hurt poorer, non-property owning Iranians, the putative beneficiaries of Ahmadinejad's populist policies."Letter from Tehran, The rationalist" by Laura Secor p.31 The New Yorker, 2 February 2009 As of mid-2011, economic growth has been called "sluggish", up 3.5% in 2010, a rate insufficient to lower the unemployment rate of close to 15%.
In June 2006, 50 Iranian economists wrote a letter to Ahmadinejad that criticized his price interventions to stabilize prices of goods, cement, government services, and his decree issued by the High Labor Council and the Ministry of Labor that proposed an increase of workers' salaries by 40 percent. Ahmadinejad publicly responded harshly to the letter and denounced the accusations."Iranian economists lash out at Ahmadinejad's policies." Daily Star. Retrieved 26 January 2008."Geopolitics casts pall on hobbled Iranian economy." USA Today. Retrieved 26 January 2008. The Management and Planning Organisation, a state body charged with mapping out long-term economic and budget strategy, was broken up and its experienced managers were fired.
Ahmadinejad has called for "middle-of-the-road" compromises with respect to Western-oriented capitalism and socialism. Current political conflicts with the United States have caused the central bank to fear increased capital flight due to global isolation. These factors have prevented an improvement of infrastructure and capital influx, despite high economic potential. Among those that did not vote for him in the first election, only 3.5 percent said they would consider voting for him in the next election.Sanati, Kimia. "Ahmadinejad held to election promises". Asia Times. Retrieved 1 February 2008. Former supporter of Ahmadinejad who have criticized his policies include Mohammad Khoshchehreh, a member of parliament who campaigned for Ahmadinejad, but in 2007 complained his government "has been strong on populist slogans, but weak on achievement;"Dareini, Ali Akbar. "Iran's Discontent With Ahmadinejad Grows." The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 August 2007. and economist and former adviser Hossein Raghfar, who has cited the decline in the price for human kidneys (which has dropped from $10,000 to $2,000 as more poor people sell their organs for cash), as evidence of increased poverty under the administration.