Irans national soccer team won a thrilling match against South Korea on June 18, landing them a spot in the 2014 World Cup. With the excitement and joy over Hassan Rouhanis presidential victory still in the air, people gathered in the streets for the second time in less than a week to celebrate.Political demonstrations are often a daring feat in Iran. Sports celebrations, however, are welcomed.
During these gatherings, folks warm up to each other. Some hand out candy or pastries in the streets to strangers. People become familiar with one another within hours.
Mohammad Khatamis first-term election was the first time in nearly two decades that people were ecstatic that a cleric had come to power. His presidential rival at the time Ali-Akbar Nategh Nouri was a cleric as well.
This time, people demonstrated strong support for a single cleric running against five non-clerics, thanks to Rouhanis moderate views and his competitors conservatism.
Iranians are known as the people of the 90th minute, an expression rooted in a soccer analogy.
The official length of a soccer match is 90 minutes, and Iranians are likened to some professional soccer players who seem to wait until the very last minute to play extraordinary offense.
Iranians might also agree that they generally wait until the last minute to make a decision or take action, even on important issues.
Planning trips months ahead isnt the norm among many Iranians living inside Iran. Similarly, Iranians might wait until the final days before voting officially opens to decide on their presidential candidate.
This culture of minute-90 was similarly in place at the time of the candidates debates.
It took a long time for the debates broadcast schedule to be announced, and the final debate was aired only a few days before the big day.
A high turnout was not anticipated for this years presidential election.
Most people also doubted that Rouhani stood a chance, especially since many Iranians seemed reluctant to vote.
The peoples lack of enthusiasm gave way to some excitement following an endorsement of Rouhani from centrist leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist leader Khatami.
After Rouhani received their public backing, many people almost at minute-90 of the election became decisive.
Many members of Irans middle class, upper middle class, educated professionals and former reformists (including Green Movement supporters) decided to participate by voting for Rouhani.
Some still seemed like they would refrain from voting, joking that they would vote for themselves and even discouraged friends and relatives from voting.
But being the last-minute people, most of Irans eligible voters ultimately did exercise their constitutional right.
Some people even came out during the evening of voting day, which resulted in some voting stations receiving a surge of voters not long before they closed.
The Ministry of the Interior almost always extends the deadline for voting due to the all-too-familiar phenomenon of minute-90 decision-making. That happened this year too.
Rouhani wasnt considered a favorite or even a front-runner until the last week of the election.
The support he received from the centrist-reformist alliance catapulted him into the spotlight, but he owes his victory to Irans people.
Without the last-minute surge of voter support, Rouhani wouldnt have won.
Irans people of the 90th minute have come through and surprised us yet again.
By Lobelog
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