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TEHRAN POLL FAVORS REFORMIST PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY.

A recent poll of 1,123 people in Tehran found that the majority of respondents favor the probable reformist candidate in the May 2005 presidential election. The Iran University Students' Polling Center, which is affiliated with the University Jihad, conducted the poll, "Farhang-i Ashti" reported on 1 September.

Former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Musavi topped the list with 29.4 percent of the respondents favoring him as their top choice for the election. Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani was a close second with 26.4 percent. Trailing far behind were Tehran Mayor Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad with 6.8 percent, Tehran parliamentarian Ahmad Tavakoli and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hojatoleslam Hassan Rohani with 4.7 percent each, parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel with 4.3 percent, former Islamic Culture and Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani with 3 percent, and former parliament speaker Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Nateq-Nuri with 2.6 percent. (This amounts to about 82 percent, and the report does not account for the remaining 18 percent.)

Of the respondents, 56.6 percent said they do not follow news about the presidential election, and only 22.6 percent of the respondents were familiar with the prospective candidates.

Of the respondents, 43.5 percent believe that the election will help resolve many of the country's problems.

source:RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 169, Part III, 3 September 2004

Comment: What do you think about this? What does the election law stipulates: If the above would have been the result of an election would it be a second round between Musavi and Rafsanjani?

IRAQI MILITANT LEADER CRITICAL OF IRAN...
Ansar al-Sunnah leader Abu Abdallah al-Hassan bin Mahmud has criticized Iran in an interview published in the 21-27 August issue of the Beirut political weekly newspaper "Al-Muharrir" (for a description of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 4 June 2004). He said bombings that target Iraqi citizens are carried out by organizations representing Iran, because the Persians bear a grudge dating from the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. He accused the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, al-Da'wah al-Islamiya, and the Islamic Action Organization of being Iranian products. Abu al-Hassan claimed that Iranian intelligence operatives killed SCIRI leader Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim because he turned against his Iranian patrons by promoting a democratic federal Iraq rather than a Shi'a theocracy. The Iranians, furthermore, want the "fatwa headquarters" transferred from Al-Najaf to Qom. Iran's objective in Iraq is to spread Shi'a Islam, create an Islamic government, have the Shi'a rule the country, buy land, and "obliterate the Iraqi identity." He added that Iran wants to control the shrines, introduce prostitution networks, sell drugs, and create sectarian strife. BS

...AND COOPERATES WITH RADICAL SHI'A CLERIC. Ansar al-Sunnah leader Abu Abdallah al-Hassan bin Mahmud also said in his interview in "Al-Muharrir" that his organization met with Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003. According to al-Hassan bin Mahmud, al-Sadr showed a note from his father that said if he is martyred his sons should "follow the fatwas of Al-Sayyid al-Haeri and Sheikh D. Ahmad al-Kubaisi. You must unite with the Sunnis." Subsequently, the Ansar al-Sunnah and the Imam Al-Mahdi Army exchanged personnel. "Therefore, the relationship can be described as intimate," Abu al-Hassan said. BS

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 169, Part III, 3 September 2004