The Guardian view on Iran’s election: a hardline victory is not the end | Editorial

Ebrahim Raisi's engineered win is dispiriting for those inside and outside the country. But the nuclear deal's resurrection is still possible and necessary

The election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as Iran's new president is a dispiriting moment for those in the west striving to revive the nuclear deal. The Iranian electorate is hardly more enthusiastic. Battered by the economic fallout from Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement, the Covid pandemic and the inability of Hassan Rouhani's reformist government to deliver on promises and overcome obstruction by the clergy and Revolutionary Guard, voters were offered only an engineered election in which Mr Raisi's victory was all but certain.

While past elections were tightly controlled - and the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei retained ultimate control regardless of the outcome - they have nonetheless been genuinely competitive. This time, leading reformists and centrists were removed as 600 candidates were whittled down; just four stood in the end. Mr Raisi's 62% of the vote came on a turnout of 48%; in Tehran just 26% voted. While participation has at times been low, this was an all-time nadir for a presidential race in the Islamic Republic, and 3.7 million people spoiled their ballots.