TEHRAN,
June 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iranian voters
flocked Friday, June 17, to polling stations to elect a new president
for the Islamic Republic, with relative moderate and frontrunner Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani tipped to win the unusually tight polls.
"I
am voting to show my opposition to America. We should not make our
enemies happy by not voting," Akram, 56, a retired hijab-clad
woman teacher in south Tehran was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Polling
stations set up in schools and mosques across the Islamic republic
opened doors at 09:00 hours local time (0430 GMT) for some 46.7
million voters eligible to cast their ballots, Agence France Presse
(AFP) said.
Long
lines of voters were seen outside polling stations.
"I
want to be the first one to vote," Nagi Hassani, a 49-year-old
shopkeeper from western Tehran, told AFP.
The
polling is scheduled to end at 19:00 (1430 GMT) but can be extended
until midnight by order of the interior ministry, the body responsible
for the logistics of the vote.
Vote
for Iran
Being
among the first to vote in the polls, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei urged Iranian voters to support the Islamic republic by
voting en masse, AFP said.
"Participating
in the election is a pious act, one should do this pious action
enthusiastically and on time," Khamenei said on state television
as he cast his vote in Tehran.
"When
we go to the ballot boxes and vote in the framework of the
constitution, we in fact vote for the constitution and the system. No
matter who we vote for -- it's a vote for the system."
Among
the seven challengers for the presidential race are ex-president and
Chairman of the Expediency Council Rafsanjani, former Majlis
(Parliament) speaker Mehdi Karroubi, former minister of higher
education Mostafa Moin, former Police chief Brigadier General Mohammad
Baqer Qalibaf, former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran's
Broadcasting (IRIB) Ali Larijani.
Other
contenders in the race are Vice President Mohsen Mehralizadeh and
Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Not
Decisive
 |
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Iranian women wait to vote in Friday’s presidential elections. (Reuters)
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Friday's presidential
elections mark the end of eight years of efforts by President Mohammad
Khatami to reform the 26-year-old regime.
Rafsanjani
has topped most opinion polls ahead of what is expected to be Iran's
closest election since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
His
closest challengers are reformist Moin, and conservative Qalibaf.
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 Moin or Qalibaf.
The
moderate Rafsanjani, seeking to regain the office he held from 1989 to
1997, needs 50 percent support to avoid an unprecedented run-off
between the two top vote-getters.
Any
run-off vote would probably be held on June 24.
Young
Voters
The
vote has aroused more interest than expected among Iran's
predominantly youthful electorate, Reuter said.
"Even
if we think it is pre-cooked, we should vote. I'll vote for
Moin," said Siavosh Kayyal, 22, a computer engineer.
Social
restrictions have been eased and taboos broken in a campaign that has
featured calls for dialogue with Washington and campaign adverts
containing discussions of sex and religion.
But
many Iranians say they will not endorse a system where the real power
is held by unelected scholars.
"Clerics
(scholars) should not interfere in politics, they should remain as
religious leaders," said Hossein, 51, a mechanic in a town just
east of Tehran.
US
Unhappy
On
the eve of polls, US officials renewed their criticism of Tehran, with
which Washington broke ties in 1980.
President
George W. Bush, who labeled Iran part of an "axis of evil"
in 2002, attacked what he termed Iran’s "oppressive
record", AFP said.
"Power
is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an
electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of
democracy," Bush said in a statement.
“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."
Responding
to Bush’s accusations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Assefi said Bush's "declarations are based on hostility and
animosity" towards Iran.
He
stressed that Washington "should hardly be worrying about
democracy because its main allies are dictatorships".
Assefi
added that all political tendencies in Iran were represented in the
election. "We have seven candidates while there are usually only
two or three in the United States and you have to be either Democrat
or Republican to be elected."
The
United States accuses Iran of having a secret program to manufacture
nuclear weapons.
Iran
staunchly denies the allegations and the head of the UN nuclear
watchdog Mohammad El-Baradie reiterated that there was no evidence
that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons.
