TEHRAN: The backing of hardliners, a knack for drawing on the concerns of the poor and his opponent’s failure to shake off an unappealing image propelled Mahmood Ahmadinejad to the biggest political upset in modern Iranian history.
The hardline Tehran mayor garnered more than 60 per cent of the vote, mobilising his core low-income support base in stark contrast to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who failed to rouse reformists and apathetic voters to turn out for him.
Allegations of foul play that clouded his shock showing in the first round have also thrown a shadow over the run-off, especially given that Mr Ahmadinejad had the support of powerful hardliners within the government.
But there is no doubt Mr Ahmadinejad’s campaign team played a highly astute game, striking a chord with Iran’s army of impoverished voters by presenting him as an honest local official who only draws a teacher’s salary.
A trip to Tehran’s bazaar, where poverty-stricken workers transport huge burdens for a pittance, goes somewhere towards explaining the potency of Mr Ahmadinejad’s appeal for Iran’s dispossessed.
“Only the rich vote for Rafsanjani! Ahmadinejad’s victory is a victory for the people,” said Abbas, 24, who earns five dollars as a runner on a good day at the bazaar.
“The rich do not consider us to be human beings. Ahmadinejad will bring us justice. It’s all we ask for.”
“I am old. I work all day long. At my age I do not even know what my future will be. Nor that of my children. I do not know Ahmadinejad well but he has the air of a good guy,” said 60-year-old worker Nosrattolah Reiazan.
Mr Ahmadinejad lost no chance to show he was one of the people, dressing in a drab suit, emphasizing his modest income and even complaining his children used the Internet so much he could not pay the phone bill.
His opponent’s attempts to raise the spectre of an extremist appeared not to stick. Instead, Mr Ahmadinejad scored by presenting himself as a ‘street sweeper and little servant’ prepared to make sacrifices for the people.
By contrast, Mr Rafsanjani’s campaign failed to erase the public image of the former president as a lofty cleric detached from everyday problems, or persuade voters that he was not off-puttingly rich.
While Mr Rafsanjani insists he is not wealthy, many Iranians beg to differ, alleging substantial interests in the oil, airline, automobile, financial and pistachio sectors.
“Ahmadinejad’s victory is the product of a wide gap between intellectuals/students and mass of people,” concluded reformist journalist and analyst Omid Memarian.
But Mr Rafsanjani and two beaten candidates from the first round have alleged Mr Ahmadinejad was backed illegally by well-financed regime elements such as the Guardians Council, the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards.
The interior ministry, which complained of vote rigging in the first round, said that in the second round violations ‘had gone beyond what could be considered a small level’.
But the Guardians Council, whose 12 members are appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the allegations.
Back at the Tehran bazaar, Kazem Azimi, a bus driver who says he has worked without a halt for an entire month to supplement his meagre income, expresses pessimism whether Mr Ahmadinejad will be able to fulfil his prophecies of change.
“Eight years ago people voted for (outgoing President Mohammad) Khatami and thought that he would change things. Nothing has been done for us. With the new one it will be the same,” he said.
“In eight years someone else will win who will say the same thing in different words. And it will start again. It’s a circle without end.”—AFP
