Emerging Politics in Iran: Last Year of Rouhani's Term and the New Conservative Parliament

The election of Hassan Rouhani in 2013 as the President was hailed as a ‘victory of moderation' in Iran, signaling the fact that Iran would embrace moderation after the ‘fierce rule' of Ahmadinejad, former Iranian President. However, a chronic failure of moderates' agenda in Iran during former's tenure has now changed the power distribution in the country leading to conservative faction's win in the 2020 Parliamentary elections. The paper is an attempt to evaluate the election result of 2020 and understand the new power dynamics in Iran. It reviews the performance and policies of President Rouhani as he reaches the last year of his second term and also analyzes the emerging political scenario in the country with challenges to the new Parliament. Additionally, to make a holistic analysis, the paper briefly covers the strong points of Rouhani administration and the plausible policy changes expected from the new parliament. The methodology of the paper is qualitative content analysis.