Iran poll rivals claim victory: Uranium enrichment to be resumed: official
TEHRAN, June 24: Rival camps in Iran’s presidential election claimed victory and hurled charges of voter intimidation after a run-off poll between veteran cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Friday’s unpredictable vote, required after an inconclusive first round on June 17, has exposed deep social divisions in the oil-producing nation of 67 million people.
Political analysts say a win for ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Ahmadinejad, 48, could spell an end to fragile social reforms and harden Iran’s foreign policy stance, particularly concerning its nuclear programme.
Mr Rafsanjani, 70, president from 1989 to 1997, has said he wants to improve ties with the West and would prevent “extremism” from monopolising power in the Islamic state.
Although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, analysts say a hardline presidency would remove a moderating influence on decision-making.
“Whoever loses we are going to feel the reverberations,” said Karim Sadjadpour, Tehran-based analyst for think-tank International Crisis Group. “Either of them are going to inherit a divided nation, both of them are polarising figures.”
Voting was extended by four hours to 11pm (1830 GMT) to accommodate a late rush of the 47 million eligible voters.
Interior ministry officials complained of illegal election-day campaigning and the presence of unauthorised officials at polling stations.
“Some people want to spoil the elections,” said ministry spokesman Jahanbaksh Khanjani.
With vote counting just underway, close Rafsanjani aide Mohammad Atrianfar forecast he would win with 55 percent of the vote and said an Ahmadinejad victory would signal fraud, accusing the hardline Basij volunteer militia of involvement.
“We know that massive irregularities have taken place in steering votes towards a certain candidate in which the Basij has played a role,” he told reporters.
Reformist candidates, who lost in the first round, have previously accused the Revolutionary Guards and Basij of campaigning for former Basij member Ahmadinejad, who dismisses such charges. By law, such bodies should be neutral.
An Ahmadinejad aide, who declined to be named, said his candidate was cruising to an easy victory.
“The gap between the candidates in the provinces is so big that even if the interior ministry extends the elections for another two days, Ahmadinejad will still be ahead,” he said.
Voting was brisk in Ahmadinejad heartlands of support such as south Tehran and the Islamic seminary city of Qom.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s humble lifestyle and pledges to attack corruption and redistribute the country’s oil wealth have appealed to the urban and rural religious poor, analysts say.
“I vote for Mr Ahmadinejad because he wants to cut the hands of those who are stealing the national wealth and he wants to fight poverty ... and discrimination,” said Mr Rahmatollah Izadpanah, 41.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME: Meanwhile, the foreign ministry insisted on Friday Iran will eventually resume its controversial uranium enrichment activities regardless of the result of the presidential election.
“Whoever is the next president, a permanent suspension is not on the cards,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
“Decisions on the nuclear question are taken in a collective way and at the highest levels of the regime,” he commented, even though he said the president “does have a certain influence”.—Agencies
