Rouhani Uses Instagram for Victory Speech

After winning the May 19 presidential election with more than 23.5 million votes, or 57% of the total votes cast, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the nation on state television, and according to a source close to the presidential camp, his personal Instagram account.

During his brief victory speech the president thanked his supporters and noted that the election result demonstrated for another time that "peace and reconciliation had won over tension and violence."

Turnout in the crucial vote was 73% and 41 million eligible voters cast their ballots for the moderate Rouhani who was reelected on a platform of "economic development, creating jobs, promotion of social freedoms, normalizing relations with the outside world, removing the remaining US sanctions" and putting the country back on the global economic map.

In his speech the president thanked the nation for reinvesting their trust in him and promised to stay loyal to his election promises, namely upholding accountability, responsibility and openness.

During his first term, Rouhani’s administration invested heavily in the telecoms industry and promoted the use of modern communications as a means to improve the quality of life and promote economic growth rates, the source told Financial Tribune on condition of anonymity.

Like the other presidential candidates, he made use of social media networks and online advertisement during his elction campaign. Rouhani and several of his ministers have been active in social media networks like Twitter and Instagram.

Research shows that six out of ten Iranians are on social media with Telegram messaging application holding the lead in terms of popularity, followed by Instagram.

Of social media platforms used in Iran, Telegram has a 55% share and Instagram23%.

It is estimated that 45 million Iranians actively use Telegram messenger and 18 million have an account on Instagram. Since Twitter is blocked in Iran no official statistics are available about Iranian users of the micro-blog service.