TEHRAN, 18 June 2005 — Voters snubbed a dissident-led boycott and filled polling sites yesterday in a tight presidential race to decide who will inherit Iran’s many challenges — including reform pressures at home and crucial nuclear talks with the West.
But the count — expected today — also could end without a clear winner. If no candidate clears the 50 percent mark, the contest shrinks to a two-man showdown on June 24 and reopens the Western-style campaigns that have reshaped Iranian politics.
A run-off scenario is almost certain to include political veteran Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a leader of the 1979 revolution.
In poor south Tehran, women in black chadors waited up to 30 minutes to vote. In posh northern suburbs, young women in colorful head scarves and bright lipstick called friends on mobile phones to urge them to vote.
Voting was extended for four hours because of long lines. A strong turnout was believed to benefit President Muhammad Khatami’s protégé, Mostafa Moin, and Rafsanjani, 70, who served as president from 1989-97 and later became a top adviser to the government.
“Fight the enemy by casting a vote,” said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — head of the non-elected theocracy whose near-absolute power can override both the president and Parliament.
All Iranians understood Khamenei’s code word for the United States and other foes of the nation’s system. A day earlier, US President George W. Bush denounced the election as a futile exercise since the clerics retain the real power — comments that hard-liners in Iran said would only inspire more Iranians to vote.
But many voters appeared to draw most enthusiasm from the range of choices — a seven-candidate field spanning from Moin to hard-liners with ties to the regime’s military guardians.
Moin, 54, a former culture minister, is considered the heir of Khatami’s eight-year legacy — which opened groundbreaking social freedoms, but failed to chip away at the ruling clerics’ power. Moin made a campaign promise to name Khatami’s brother as vice president.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, 44, who appealed to conservatives, is a former head of the national police and is credited with bringing more professionalism on the force.
In the evening, Khatami adviser Mohammad Shariati told Al-Jazeera that news suggested the turnout had reached 60 percent. Turnout reached nearly 67 percent four years ago in a Khatami landslide.
More than 46.7 million Iranians were eligible to vote. Security was on high alert following several recent bombings, but no violence or unrest was reported.
Helicopters ferried ballot boxes to nomads in their summer pastures. In the blistering plains near the Gulf, election officials used palm branches to make shade for voters waiting in 45 degree (113 Fahrenheit) heat.
Across the border in Basra, Iraq, up to 12,000 Iranians were expected to cast ballots at their consulate.
More than 254 polling stations were set up around the world, including 36 in the United States.
