Ebrahim Noroozi / AP
A supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani holds up his poster at a celebration gathering, in Tehran, late Saturday.
By Ali Arouzi, Correspondent, NBC News
Jubilant Iranians took to the streets of Tehran to celebrate late into the night Saturday after reformist Hassan Rohani was elected president, sweeping to victory with over 50 per cent of the vote.
In euphoric mood, people in the streets were chanting, ?Bye bye Ahmadi, bye bye Ahmadi? in a reference to outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In an ironic twist those same people were making the same chants four years ago before the results came in those elections, which were followed by a bloody crackdown. Not so on Saturday night.
Everything went by very peacefully, showing how much difference four years in Iranian politics can make.
Saturday?s vote also showed a split in opinion amongst Iranian voters.
People take to the streets of Tehran after Hassan Rohani was elected the next president of Iran. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports.
Results show a divide in opinion in the country with almost a fifty-fifty split between conservatives and reformists.
About 35 million people went to the polls with Hassan Rohani getting just over 18 million votes, while the combined vote for the five conservative candidates was just under 18 million.
That does not mean some sort of Arab Spring is on the horizon - far from it - but it shows how Iranians want the country managed in a different way and how they want the country perceived overseas.
Hassan Rohani is a pragmatic man.
During his time as? chief nuclear negotiator he got along very well with Western diplomats. While he held that position, Iran suspended uranium enrichment. They restarted it when Ahmadinejad became president.
Now Iranians will wait to see if Rohani can deliver tangible policy changes or if this is just going to be a softening in tone rather than substance.
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