Iran chooses conservative for presidency

Ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won Iran's presidency by an overwhelming vote, decisively shutting reformists out of government and threatening to lead the country back toward the restrictions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Interior Ministry gave Ahmadinejad 62.2% of the vote over his moderate rival, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who received nearly 35.3%. The ministry posted a notice in its headquarters declaring Ahmadinejad the winner. The rest of the ballots were deemed invalid.

The figures were based on more than 90% of the estimated 26 million votes cast, or nearly 55% of Iran's about 47 million eligible voters. In last week's election, the turnout was close to 63%.

The victory gives conservatives control of Iran's two highest elected offices - the presidency and parliament.

This will give a freer hand to the non-elected theocracy, which holds the final word on all important policies. Led by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it is the clerics who hold the real power in Iran. They may overrule elected officials.

Reformers, who lost control of parliament last year, had swung behind Rafsanjani in yesterday's vote, hoping to retain some hand in government to preserve the social freedoms of recent years, such as looser dress codes, more mixing between the sexes, and openings to the West.

In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore indicated the result would not change the US view of Iran, and what it considered to be a fundamentally flawed election that refused to accept scores of candidates, particularly women.

"With the conclusion of the elections in Iran, we have seen nothing that sways us from our view that Iran is out of step with the rest of the region in the currents of freedom and liberty that have been so apparent in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon," Moore said.

The streets of Tehran were quiet early today. State television announced the results in its dawn bulletin, and there were no immediate celebrations outdoors.

Ahmadinejad supporters will go to mosques to "thank God for this great victory", said his campaign manager Ali Akbar Javanfekr. He said no public celebrations were planned.

Ahmadinejad is expected to start consultations soon on selecting his Cabinet. People will watch to see if he chooses clerics such as Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a firebrand who has been mooted for the Culture Ministry - a post that controls the arts, publications and the cinema.

Ahmadinejad, aged 49, campaigned as a champion of the poor, a message that resonated with voters in a country where some estimates put unemployment as high as 30%. He struck the image of a simple working man against Rafsanjani, a wealthy member of the ruling elite.

But Ahmadinejad also vowed to return Iran to the principles of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Such comments and reports about his inner circle of supporters - members of the Revolutionary Guard, the vigilantes who enforce public dress codes and some of the most hard-line clerics in Iran's theocracy - frightened Iran's reformers.

Ahmadinejad had not been expected even to make the run-off. But he squeaked ahead of his rivals into the No. 2 spot in last week's first-round vote. There were accusations that Revolutionary Guards and vigilantes intimidated voters to sway the vote in his favour.

Going into the first round, the 70-year-old Rafsanjani was considered by far the favourite. But he emerged battered, receiving only 21% of the vote.

During yesterday's voting, the reformist-led Interior Ministry reported "interference" at some Tehran polling stations. A ministry worker who was advising officials about violations was arrested after he had an argument with a candidate's representatives, said ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani.

An Interior Ministry observers' group reported 300 violation complaints in Tehran, said group leader Ibrahim Razini.

In the eyes of most, Rafsanjani - who was president from 1989-97 - represented the status quo.

Backers felt confident he would continue the many social changes introduced by outgoing President Mohammad Khatami, including youth-supported freedoms such as dating, music, and colourful headscarves for women.

Rafsanjani now appears to be facing his political grave. He was humbled in 2000 when he failed to win a seat in parliament. He may retain his seat on the Expediency Council, which mediates between parliament and the ruling clerics, but he now casts the shadow of a two-time loser.

Ahmadinejad is likely be a tough negotiating partner in Iran's talks with Europe over its nuclear program, which the US contends aims to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says the program aims only for producing energy.

He has criticised Iran's current negotiators as making too many concessions to Europe - particularly in freezing the uranium enrichment program - and he was expected to put Iran's nuclear program into the hands of some avowed anti-Western clerics.

The pragmatic Rafsanjani has appeared more willing to negotiate on the nuclear program. But a Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday underlined that the suspension is temporary and that enrichment will eventually be restarted no matter who wins the election.

But for many Iranians, the biggest issue was an economy that has languished despite Iran's oil and gas riches. Iran's official unemployment rate is 16%, but unofficially it is closer to 30% - and the country has to create 800,000 jobs a year just to stand still.