Iranian voters weary of years of economic isolation and tightening political restrictions threw down a blunt demand for change on Saturday (June 15) by handing a moderate cleric a landslide victory in a presidential election.

Having waited throughout Friday night (June 14) and most of Saturday, millions of Iranians at home and abroad greeted Hassan Rohani's victory with a mix of euphoria and relief that eight years under hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were finally over.

State television showed large crowds marching through the streets of the capital, with similar displays of jubilation reported in other cities, including Mashhad, Zanjan and Qom.

That Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator, trounced hardline "Principlist" rivals most loyal to the theocratic system and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Friday's contest left many in the Islamic Republic in shock.

A second surprise was that the country's first presidential poll since a disputed re-electi