Hardliner and reformist do battle in Iranian poll

IRANIANS packed polling stations from boutique-lined streets to conservative bastions yesterday with a choice that’s left the country divided and on edge: keeping hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power or electing a reformist who favours greater freedoms and improved ties with the United States.

Crowds formed quickly at many voting sites in areas considered both strongholds for Ahmadinejad and his main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s and has become the surprise hero of a powerful youth-driven movement. Due to heavy turnout, polling was extended by three hours to 9pm local time, (4.30pm GMT).

At several polling stations in Tehran, mothers held their children as they waited in long lines. “I hope to defeat Ahmadinejad today,” said Mahnaz Mottaghi, 23, after casting her ballot at a mosque in Tehran.

The fiery month-long campaign may have reaped a record turnout. The mass rallies, polished campaign slogans, savvy internet outreach and TV debates more closely resembled Western elections than the scripted campaigns in most Middle Eastern countries. In a sign of the bitter rifts from the campaign, the Interior Ministry said all rallies or political gatherings would be banned until after results are announced, which are expected today. The outcome will not sharply alter Iran’s main policies which are controlled by the ruling clerics headed by the unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Mousavi has offered hopes of more freedoms at home. If elected, he could push for Iran to embrace US president Barack Obama’s offer of dialogue after a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze.

The race will go to a run-off on June 19 if no candidate receives a majority of more than 50% of the votes cast. Much depends on how many votes are siphoned off by the two other candidates: conservative former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei and moderate former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi.