Dejected Iranian reformists urged to rally behind ex-president

IRANIAN reformists urged their dejected supporters to rally behind pragmatic cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to prevent hard-line challenger Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from winning a presidential run-off.

“We should use our full force to defend Rafsanjani. We should form an anti-fascist front,” said Hamid Reza Jalalipour, a leader of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front.

Similarly, backers of Mr Ahmadinejad urged conservatives to unite in support of the man who stunned Iran by almost overhauling elder statesman Mr Rafsanjani in Friday’s vote.

One of the nation’s best- known statesmen, Ayatollah Rafsanjani, ran a slick Western-style campaign that portrayed him as the seasoned political navigator, wise to the ways of international diplomacy, strong enough to stare down the US but astute enough to know when to return to fight another day.

His rival, the arch conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, embraces his image of the simple, unpolished man who told a news conference that he could not foresee improved ties with any country that “seeks hostility” against Iran, a usual reference to the US.

Mr Ahmadinejad was unabashedly conservative, and said Iran had seen enough political reform. One of his slogans was “Islamisation of the administration”, indicating the conservative path he will follow if elected.

The vote between Mr Rafsanjani and Mr Ahmadinejad was surprisingly close with barely two percentage points separating them. Mr Rafsanjani took just 21% of the vote and Mr Ahmadinejad 19.48%.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s nearest rival, former Parliament speaker Mahdi Karroubi, was a whisper behind him with 19.3% of the vote.

Mr Karroubi has cried fraud, and accused the Revolutionary Guard and their vigilante civilian groups of intimidating voters to mark their ballots for Mr Ahmadinejad.

Mr Karroubi has demanded an official probe and warned he would stage street protests.

Liberals now face an awkward choice between giving their explicit support to Mr Rafsanjani - a conservative ayatollah who has taken on an increasingly moderate hue - or urging a boycott and thus risk a victory by Mr Ahmadinejad.

Many reformists fear that a win for Mr Ahmadinejad would roll back the cautious social reform that has taken place over the past years and further antagonise Iran’s relations with the international community.