Mr. Rouhani who was addressing a session of high-ranking officials of his cabinet and other officials of the Establishment in his office, believed that transparency would best serve public good and help the people choose from among the candidates with accuracy and with an open mind. Mr. Rouhani however criticized those who, he believed, were working in the media and elsewhere to hit the government through making facts of economic progress upside-down as ammunition for their election campaign canons; “such a conduct would deprive the public of their hopes to the better future and of their trust upon the ballot boxes; if this happens, the end of democracy will be on the horizon,” he lamented.
Mr. Rouhani also provided proof of his government’s modest, if not fully gratifying, success in bringing a modicum of improvement to the economy by creating 600,000 jobs during more than 3 years in office; “few governments in the world have ever succeeded in creating this number of jobs; we do not claim that all problems of unemployment have been resolved; rather, we firmly believe that the efforts should be doubled as new waves of university graduates have swarmed the market in search of jobs,” he told the meeting, trying to placate the murmurs that the single-digit inflation rate his government so much praised as success would soon turn out to be a flash on a pan.
“Public has the right to know realities so that it could choose from among the candidates accurately and with a clear mind; for the Establishment as well as for the nation, a high turnout in upcoming elections is crucial and would infuse new hope in the public for a better future,” Rouhani emphasized. “To plunge the people into despair is to move in the lines the enemies of this nation draw; it is to make pale the hopes the public invests in the functioning of the system and the democracy in the country.”
Rouhani called all political parties including his staunch critics to help hold a successful elections with a majority of the plebiscite participating in making a better future. “Legitimacy of the Establishment hinges upon the election and the healthy functioning of democracy; the state relies on the people’s will; all should work to hold an election free of defamation, free of spewing malice, and with full commitment to the morals and dictations of the ethics,” he said.
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