Iran votes in tight election

2005-06-17 14:28

Tehran - Polls opened on Friday for the tightest presidential election in Iran's history, with relative moderate and frontrunner Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani facing a tough challenge from both reformist and hardline contenders.

Among the first to cast their vote for the 26-year-old Islamic regime's new number-two was supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, state television showed.

The election, expected to go into a nail-biting second round, marks the end of eight years of frustrated efforts by President Mohammad Khatami to reform the 26-year-old theocracy, and Rafsanjani is hoping his image as a pragmatic cleric with clout can lure voters who are tired of political deadlock.

The top cleric, who has already twice served as Iran's president, has been presenting himself as a man opposed to "extremists," open to restoring ties with the United States and eager to ease international tensions over the country's nuclear programme.

Tight security

Polling stations set up in schools and mosques across the Islamic republic were told by state radio to open their doors at 09:00 to 46.7 million eligible voters, or all Iranians aged 15 and over.

Voting ends at 19:00, but can be extended until midnight by order of the interior ministry, the body responsible for the logistics of the vote.

United States President George W Bush has charged the election in the Middle East's most populous nation, lumped into his "axis of evil", "ignores the basic requirements of democracy."

"Iran's rulers denied more than a thousand people who put themselves forward as candidates, including popular reformers and women who have done so much for the cause of freedom and democracy in Iran," Bush said.

But the election, which a month ago looked like a one-horse race, now looks set to be the tightest in Iran's history - and how many people actually bother to vote will be closely watched.

None of the seven candidates is expected to score more than 50% of the vote, and Rafsanjani may be forced into an unprecedented second round run-off with either reformist doctor Mostafa Moin or hardline former police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

Even though candidates have been pre-screened and the real power will remain in the hands of the deeply-conservative supreme leader, the seven contenders are offering vastly different visions.

The hope for the reform camp is that young voters, tempted to boycott out of apathy or disgust at the political system, will be persuaded to cast their ballots at the last minute.

Security is also tight, amid fears of a repeat of the bomb attacks that killed up to 10 people nearly a week ago.

- AFP