TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mohammad Khatami won a landslide re-election on Saturday with about 77 percent of all votes, boosting his mandate to push through social and political reforms against hard-line resistance.
Iran's official news agency IRNA said a final vote count issued by the Interior Ministry showed Khatami received 21.7 million of the total 28.2 million votes cast in Friday's polls.
Khatami's share of the vote was bigger than in his surprise landslide in 1997, when he received 69.1 percent of all votes.
His nearest rival, conservative former Labor Minister Ahmad Tavakoli, came a distant second with 4.4 million votes.
The turnout represented 67 percent of an electorate of about 42 million.
Police were out in force in Tehran to prevent noisy public celebrations of Khatami's victory, blocking off several squares and Mellat (People) Park, a favorite youth hangout.
But IRNA said there were street celebrations across the country.
Journalists reported sporadic clashes between pro-Khatami youths, who descended on the park carrying banners, and hard-line militants as police tried to disperse the crowd of up to 3,000 people.
"Long live Khatami!" chanted clusters of youths before disappearing behind trees in the sprawling park.
Youths drove down Africa Street in well-to-do north Tehran, music blaring from their cars, as police stood by.
Hundreds of motorists honked their horn in unison as passengers held out Iranian flags and made victory signs.
Conservatives have often criticized pro-Khatami rallies, in which young men and women mix, as un-Islamic and the hard-line-led police had warned during the election campaign against noisy street gatherings.
Khatami's re-election was also welcomed outside the country.
In Berlin, German President Johannes Rau congratulated Khatami and said he hoped the Iranian leader would pursue the reforms he had started.
The United States said the turnout showed the desire among Iranians for change.
In a message read on state media, Khatami said his first priority was to foster democracy, but he added that "principles should be coupled with patience, moderation and prudence."
"Now the honourable Iranian nation, as winner of this contest, is determined in its just demands and expects the government and the system to take bigger steps to fulfil them," Khatami said.
"Freedom of speech, criticism and even protest within the law...is the precondition for quicker victory," he said.
Even before final results were in, most of Khatami's nine mostly conservative challengers conceded defeat and congratulated him.
The strong approval of Khatami will boost his standing and increase pressure on his hardline opponents to yield to his drive to bring greater freedom and democracy to Iran.
"People voted again for reforms with awareness. They made it clear exactly what course they want for the country," reformist MP Ali Shakourirad told the student news agency ISNA. "The people are, in effect, demanding that opponents of reforms stop their opposition and let Khatami do his job."
Now Khatami seems to have reconfirmed his strong backing from the electorate, the question is, can he succeed any better in pushing through reforms this time round?
Hadi Semati, a Tehran University political scientist, warned the future would not be all smooth sailing.
"It is still going to be bumpy and slow. They are going to continue arresting people and shutting down papers. I expect the same cat-and-mouse game as before," he said.
Khatami's campaign for political and cultural openness has wavered in the face of a judiciary crackdown that has led to the imprisonment of dozens of liberal Islamists and the closure of as many newspapers.
In a sign of his widespread appeal, Khatami even won 58 percent in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom, a stronghold of the hardline clergy south of Tehran.
At first reluctant to run for re-election, Khatami fought a determined campaign, promising to press on with reforms.
He has complained that his office lacks enough power to push through his programme.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei controls the police and armed forces, appoints the judiciary chief and the head of the state broadcasting monopoly.
He also nominates senior members of the Guardian Council which has the power to veto laws it judges not in conformity with Islamic sharia law and reject election candidates.
With reformists holding sway in parliament, many MPs want the president to pick a strong reformist cabinet, when he starts his second term in August.