Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( born 28 October 1956) is the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. An engineer and teacher from a poor background; Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity after the Islamic Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor; he was removed after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching. Tehran's council elected him mayor in 2003. He took a religious hard-line; reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign; supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran; garnered 62% of the runoff election votes; and he became President on 3 August 2005.