Close contact with media a must: Rohani

Iranian president-elect Hassan Rohani has reiterated the need for persistent contacts between his future administration and the media in view of a more effective management of state affairs.

“The media should assist us in realizing of the desired goals of the people, the [Islamic] establishment and the administration, and keep the administration abreast of the views and expectations of the people,” Rohani said at a Monday meeting with managers of Iranian media.

He said that the media contributed to the lively presidential election held on June 14.

The president-elect said that the future administration does not expect the media to act unilaterally.

“People have rightful expectations and considerable views and reflecting public expectations, problems and criticism is a task assigned to the media,” he stressed.

Rohani said that media should keep tabs on the performance of the administration and other executive bodies.

Rohani gained 18,613,329 votes, or 50.7 percent of a total of 36,704,156 ballots.

Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters, were eligible to participate in the presidential election. The Interior Ministry put the voter turnout at 72.7 percent.