odin_dax
12th June 2009, 03:47 PM
from NYTimes.com
TEHRAN ? Standing in line to vote in a mosque polling station on Friday morning, Fatemah Moghaddasi left no doubt about who she was supporting in Iran?s presidential elections.
?We don?t want our country to be trapped in a no-hijab situation, with no discipline,? she said, clutching her black covering with one hand. ?We will only accept Ahmadinejad.?
Ms. Moghaddasi was one of tens of millions of Iranians who crowded to the polls to take part in what is widely seen here as a referendum on the hard-line policies of Iran?s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Turnout appeared to be extraordinarily high, with long lines forming outside some polling stations well before they opened at 8 a.m.
The strong showing appeared to be driven in part by a broad movement against Mr. Ahmadinejad that has spurred vast opposition rallies in Iran?s major cities over the past few weeks. Many reform-oriented voters stayed away from the polls in 2005, and now say they are determined not to repeat the mistake. Most say they support Mir Hussein Moussavi, a moderate and former prime minister who is the leading opposition candidate.
There are four candidates in the race, and if none wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Friday, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff a week later. Most analysts have assumed that the election will go to a second round, but in recent days, the extraordinary public support for Mr. Moussavi has led to predictions that he could win the presidency in the first round on Friday. The other contenders are Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric; and Mohsen Rezai, a conservative and the former commander of Iran?s Revolutionary Guards. All other presidential aspirants were weeded out months ago by Iran?s clerical elite.
Iran?s president is less powerful than the supreme leader ? Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ? who has final authority over affairs of state. But the president wields great power over domestic affairs, and Mr. Ahmadinejad has skillfully used the office as a bully pulpit both at home and abroad.
As voting began on Friday morning, journalists gathered to watch Ayatollah Khamenei cast his vote in a mosque near his home in southern Tehran.
Just after 8 a.m., a set of brown curtains opened and the leader emerged, a gaunt 69-year-old with clunky glasses and a long white beard, with a black turban on his head and a black clerical gown draped around him. The journalists, mostly Iranians, gasped and then chanted a religious blessing.
Mr. Khamenei presented his identity papers to an official standing nearby, and cast two ballots: one for president, and one for the Assembly of Experts, the 86-member body of senior clerics that appoints ? and can remove ? the supreme leader. He then stepped to a microphone and gave a brief speech in which he praised the vigor of the election campaign.
?I am hearing about a vast participation of people, and I hear there are even gatherings at night,? Mr. Khamenei said. ?This shows the people?s awareness.?
He also warned about election-day rumors, saying text-messages were being sent around claiming to represent his view on the election, and said they were lies spread by ?unhealthy individuals with bad intentions.?
Ayatollah Khamenei?s position on the presidential elections has been a matter of intense speculation. He has not endorsed anyone, but offered a description of the ideal candidate that sounded very much like Mr. Ahmadinejad.
However, Mr. Khamenei met for three hours on Thursday with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric and former president who heads the Assembly of Experts. He opposes Mr. Ahmadinejad and has accused him of threatening the stability of the state.
Some analysts say Mr. Rafsanjani?s lobbying efforts could reduce Mr. Ahmadinejad?s freedom to bring out voters or even intimidate them using the levers of state ? the military, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Basij militia.
A number of voters interviewed at the polls Friday seemed anxious about the possibility of vote-tampering.
?I put one name in, but maybe it will change when it comes out of the box,? said Adel Shoghi, 29, who works as a clerk at a car manufacturing company and voted at a mosque in southern Tehran.
Like some other supporters of Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Shoghi seemed uneasy about making his position too explicit in public. But he said he favored for Mr. Moussavi because Iran needed more civic freedoms, and because Mr. Ahmadinejad worsened Iran?s pariah status internationally, making life hard for Iranians who travel.
His brother Mansoor, 27, standing next to Mr. Shoghi and smiling shyly, said he had just voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad.
?He is more with the people, and he has a plain way of living,? he said, echoing comments made by many supporters of the populist president.
Half an hour later, Mr. Moussavi arrived at the mosque to cast his vote, surrounded by a thick, shouting crowd of aides and photographers. He delivered a brief speech.
?This is a golden opportunity for us,? he said, as photographers jostled for position and voters struggled in to hear. ?All this unity and solidarity is the achievement of the revolution and the Islamic republic.?
He left soon after, with his admirers in the courtyard still chanting, ?Hail to Muhammad, the perfume of honesty and sincerity is coming.?
Mr. Ahmadinejad voted at another mosque, in southeast Tehran.
There are families, like the Shoghis?, that are divided over the candidates. But often the two main political camps seem almost to hail from different countries. Mr. Moussavi?s supporters tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more socially liberal than Mr. Ahmadinejad?s.
Outside a polling station in an affluent area of north Tehran, women stood in line wearing colorful headscarves, designer jeans, and sunglasses. It was a far cry from the mosque where Mr. Moussavi had voted.
?In the last elections, most people like us didn?t vote,? said Ava Bab, a 24-year-old dressed in an elegant gray headscarf. ?But we saw our situation is getting worse, so we decided to put our hands together. The view other countries have of us is different from the way we really are.?
Nazila Fathi contributed reporting.
TEHRAN ? Standing in line to vote in a mosque polling station on Friday morning, Fatemah Moghaddasi left no doubt about who she was supporting in Iran?s presidential elections.
?We don?t want our country to be trapped in a no-hijab situation, with no discipline,? she said, clutching her black covering with one hand. ?We will only accept Ahmadinejad.?
Ms. Moghaddasi was one of tens of millions of Iranians who crowded to the polls to take part in what is widely seen here as a referendum on the hard-line policies of Iran?s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Turnout appeared to be extraordinarily high, with long lines forming outside some polling stations well before they opened at 8 a.m.
The strong showing appeared to be driven in part by a broad movement against Mr. Ahmadinejad that has spurred vast opposition rallies in Iran?s major cities over the past few weeks. Many reform-oriented voters stayed away from the polls in 2005, and now say they are determined not to repeat the mistake. Most say they support Mir Hussein Moussavi, a moderate and former prime minister who is the leading opposition candidate.
There are four candidates in the race, and if none wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Friday, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff a week later. Most analysts have assumed that the election will go to a second round, but in recent days, the extraordinary public support for Mr. Moussavi has led to predictions that he could win the presidency in the first round on Friday. The other contenders are Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric; and Mohsen Rezai, a conservative and the former commander of Iran?s Revolutionary Guards. All other presidential aspirants were weeded out months ago by Iran?s clerical elite.
Iran?s president is less powerful than the supreme leader ? Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ? who has final authority over affairs of state. But the president wields great power over domestic affairs, and Mr. Ahmadinejad has skillfully used the office as a bully pulpit both at home and abroad.
As voting began on Friday morning, journalists gathered to watch Ayatollah Khamenei cast his vote in a mosque near his home in southern Tehran.
Just after 8 a.m., a set of brown curtains opened and the leader emerged, a gaunt 69-year-old with clunky glasses and a long white beard, with a black turban on his head and a black clerical gown draped around him. The journalists, mostly Iranians, gasped and then chanted a religious blessing.
Mr. Khamenei presented his identity papers to an official standing nearby, and cast two ballots: one for president, and one for the Assembly of Experts, the 86-member body of senior clerics that appoints ? and can remove ? the supreme leader. He then stepped to a microphone and gave a brief speech in which he praised the vigor of the election campaign.
?I am hearing about a vast participation of people, and I hear there are even gatherings at night,? Mr. Khamenei said. ?This shows the people?s awareness.?
He also warned about election-day rumors, saying text-messages were being sent around claiming to represent his view on the election, and said they were lies spread by ?unhealthy individuals with bad intentions.?
Ayatollah Khamenei?s position on the presidential elections has been a matter of intense speculation. He has not endorsed anyone, but offered a description of the ideal candidate that sounded very much like Mr. Ahmadinejad.
However, Mr. Khamenei met for three hours on Thursday with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric and former president who heads the Assembly of Experts. He opposes Mr. Ahmadinejad and has accused him of threatening the stability of the state.
Some analysts say Mr. Rafsanjani?s lobbying efforts could reduce Mr. Ahmadinejad?s freedom to bring out voters or even intimidate them using the levers of state ? the military, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Basij militia.
A number of voters interviewed at the polls Friday seemed anxious about the possibility of vote-tampering.
?I put one name in, but maybe it will change when it comes out of the box,? said Adel Shoghi, 29, who works as a clerk at a car manufacturing company and voted at a mosque in southern Tehran.
Like some other supporters of Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Shoghi seemed uneasy about making his position too explicit in public. But he said he favored for Mr. Moussavi because Iran needed more civic freedoms, and because Mr. Ahmadinejad worsened Iran?s pariah status internationally, making life hard for Iranians who travel.
His brother Mansoor, 27, standing next to Mr. Shoghi and smiling shyly, said he had just voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad.
?He is more with the people, and he has a plain way of living,? he said, echoing comments made by many supporters of the populist president.
Half an hour later, Mr. Moussavi arrived at the mosque to cast his vote, surrounded by a thick, shouting crowd of aides and photographers. He delivered a brief speech.
?This is a golden opportunity for us,? he said, as photographers jostled for position and voters struggled in to hear. ?All this unity and solidarity is the achievement of the revolution and the Islamic republic.?
He left soon after, with his admirers in the courtyard still chanting, ?Hail to Muhammad, the perfume of honesty and sincerity is coming.?
Mr. Ahmadinejad voted at another mosque, in southeast Tehran.
There are families, like the Shoghis?, that are divided over the candidates. But often the two main political camps seem almost to hail from different countries. Mr. Moussavi?s supporters tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more socially liberal than Mr. Ahmadinejad?s.
Outside a polling station in an affluent area of north Tehran, women stood in line wearing colorful headscarves, designer jeans, and sunglasses. It was a far cry from the mosque where Mr. Moussavi had voted.
?In the last elections, most people like us didn?t vote,? said Ava Bab, a 24-year-old dressed in an elegant gray headscarf. ?But we saw our situation is getting worse, so we decided to put our hands together. The view other countries have of us is different from the way we really are.?
Nazila Fathi contributed reporting.