Iranians want a voice in running their own affairs, they want to determine their own fates, and they want relief from the oppressive theocracy that runs their country. They tried to achieve these goals by electing a charismatic dark horse with a relatively liberal reputation as president in 1997 and re-electing him four years later. They also voted-in a parliamentary majority of reformists in 2000. However, Iran's political system, in which unelected institutions have the power to overrule the elected officials of the executive and legislative branches, made it difficult to accomplish anything substantive. Moreover, a timid President Mohammad Khatami failed to use his popular mandate to push through the measures that could have democratized the system.