Iran goes to the polls

Iranians began voting today on whether to keep hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for four more years or replace him with a reformist more open to loosening the country’s Islamic restrictions and improving ties with the US.

The rowdy election campaign, which lasted less than a month, electrified many voters and reshaped how the world sees Iran’s political process.

The mass street demonstrations, polished campaign slogans and televised debates more closely resembled Western elections than the scripted coronations in most other Middle Eastern countries.

More than 45,000 polling places around the country opened today. Following tradition, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei placed his ballot in the white ballot box just minutes after the polls opened.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, urged Iranians to vote early and in a peaceful manner.

“As far as I see and hear, passion and motivation is very high among people,” he said. “We expect people at packed polling stations to be able to choose the best choice for heading the executive branch for four years.”

Election fever took hold of Iran, intensifying dramatically over the final week. Wild, late-night street demonstrations felt more like parties, halting traffic and giving Tehran’s youth a rare chance to dance in the streets.

Stakes are high, both domestically and internationally, even though the real power rests with the unelected Ayatollah Khamenei. He wields control over every major decision, and the president’s powers are limited by the ruling clerics.

So far, the country’s leaders have not rushed to embrace President Barack Obama’s offer to open a dialogue after three decades of diplomatic stalemate. But they left open the possibility of talks in the future.

Mr Ahmadinejad has proposed a “debate” with Mr Obama. His top pro-reform opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has said he would seek better relations with Washington to try to soften Iran’s international image.

The ruling clerics have given no signals that they are willing to switch course on Iran’s most contentious issue – its nuclear programme. The US and some of its allies fear Tehran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, though Iran denies it.

Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly refused to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce fuel for both nuclear power or nuclear weapons.

Mr Mousavi has floated the idea of an international consortium overseeing it in Iran, but both leading candidates say it is Iran’s right to pursue nuclear technology.

The race remains too close to call, with a run-off a strong possibility. The winner needs to get 50% plus one of the vote today. If neither does, a run-off will be held on June 19. Initial results are expected tomorrow.

Mousavi’s campaign generated intense excitement among youth in Iran, many of whom boycotted the 2005 elections that brought Mr Ahmadinejad to power.

Mr Mousavi’s rallies in Tehran drew tens of thousands of cheering supporters, who later spent their nights shouting anti-Ahmadinejad slogans and dancing to Persian pop songs on the streets.

For the first time in Iran, the forces of the web were fully harnessed in an election showdown. That catapulted Mr Mousavi, a 67-year-old former prime minister from the 1980s, into a political rock star with the potential to pull off an upset victory with his promises of greater freedom and outreach to the US.

His supporters used social networking sites like Facebook and the photo-sharing site Flickr as an online scrapbook of their rallies and campaign events. They even filed race updates in Farsi on Twitter.

The battle for the presidency turned nasty at times – especially during televised Western-style debates, a first in Iran.

Mr Mousavi hammered Mr Ahmadinejad’s handling of the struggling economy. He made fun of the president’s bombastic style, including his questions about the Holocaust that brought Iran international condemnation.

But Mr Ahmadinejad pounced back, claiming the economy has fared better since he has been in power and accusing his rivals, including former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, of corruption.

He also alleged that Mousavi’s wife, a former university dean, did not meet the full requirements to earn her PhD. In response, she threatened to sue him for his remarks.