No. 2 Iran
In 1997, a seemingly innocuous bureaucrat and religious scholar named Mohammad Khatami took the world - along with his country's religious ruling class - by surprise when he handily won the presidency over the regime-supported speaker of the Majlis (parliament) Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri. With an approximate voter turnout of 91%, Khatami stunned the political and clerical establishment in Iran by leading a popular coalition of intellectuals, reformers and young voters straight to the halls of power in Tehran. The reform-minded leader inspired and mobilized his fellow Iranians to get involved, with a message of openness and dialogue with the surrounding world. After eight years in office, the inflated hope and promise initiated by Khatami's election had mostly fizzled by his departure in 2005. Hit by high inflation and unemployment, Iranians would instead turn to the populist rhetoric of Tehran's mayor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Heavily supported by the clerical class in Tehran and Qom, Ahmadinejad would soon abandon his economically-focused campaign rhetoric, and instead began to use his newly acquired position to confront Israel and the United States. The year 2009 may prove to be a choice between two political paths for the Islamic Republic of Iran. With President Ahmadinejad already hitting the campaign trail, much of the world was delighted last week when Khatami declared his own intentions to run for the presidency for the June 12 election. Setting the stage for a classic battle of Iran's two most recent presidents, the result of this race may hold reverberating implications for the Middle East and the rest of the global community. Heavily rigged and regulated, presidential elections in Iran are often a reflection of what the country's true figurehead, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is willing to permit within his own regime. Will there be rapprochement with the United States after years of chilly and minimal engagement? How will a new president affect the republic's nuclear program? This race will put all of these cards and more on the table, giving the world a glimmer at what course Iran may take internationally for years to come.
