Posted on 06/24/2005 7:24:03 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
Hardliner Scores Landslide Iran Election Win
Excerpt:
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:28 p.m. ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad swept to a landslide win in presidential elections on Saturday, spelling a possible end to Iran's fragile social reforms and tentative rapprochement with the West.
Ahmadinejad, 48, received the backing of the religious poor to defeat moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was supported by pro-reform parties and wealthy Iranians fearful of a hardline monopoly on power in the Islamic state.
``The figures show that Ahmadinejad is the winner,'' Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani told reporters.
He will be Iran's first non-cleric president for 24 years when he takes office in August.
An official at the Guardian Council, which must approve the election results, said that out of 24.8 million voted counted, Ahmadinejad had won 61.7 percent of ballots cast, defying pre-poll predictions of a tight race.
The official said turnout was 26 million, or 56 percent, down on the 63 percent of Iran's 46.7 million eligible voters who cast ballots in an inconclusive first round on June 17.
``It's over, we accept that we've lost,'' a close Rafsanjani aide, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
Although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all matters of state, a hardline presidency would remove the moderating influence on decision-making exercised by outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami since 1997.
``This all but closes the door for a breakthrough in U.S.-Iran relations,'' said Karim Sadjadpour, Tehran-based analyst for the International Crisis Group.
Washington broke ties with Iran in 1980 and now accuses it of developing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism. Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, denies the charges.
``I think Ahmadinejad is less amenable to compromise on the nuclear issue, but it is unclear how much influence he will have on it,'' said Sadjadpour.
DEEP DIVISIONS
Friday's vote exposed deep class divisions in the nation of 67 million people.
A former member of the special forces of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards, Ahmadinejad's humble lifestyle and pledges to tackle corruption and redistribute the country's oil wealth appealed to the urban and rural religious poor.
``Today is the beginning of a new political era,'' he said after voting on Friday. ....
- Reuters reported that the Iraqi Prime Minister said, A crisis with our neighbors will not change Iraq/US relations.
- BBC News reported that people in Iran have said that if Ahmadinejad wins, I will leave this country. It will be so dangerous. Many reports echo this sentiment.
- Iran Focus reported that hundreds of polling stations in Tehran and other towns and cities monitored were virtually empty. But the International Herald Tribune said the turnout was high. Sure.
- Interactive Investor reported that Iran's foreign minister said, Iran will eventually resume its controversial uranium enrichment activities regardless of the result of the Islamic republic's presidential election.
- SMCCDI reported the Islamic regime has re-opened, again, its very same sham ballot boxes in Los Angeles(CA). Then, they changed the location.
- Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the spokesman of the country's Elections Headquarters said, Reporting of violations of the Election Law at such a broad level is quite unprecedented and according to latest reports the violations are no longer limited to trivial illegal affairs.
- And finally, BBC Monitoring Service reports that an informed source at the Interior Ministry has reported the arrest of the Interior Ministry's director-general for parliamentary affairs.
Iranian students' news web site is filtered in Iran one day after the election!
Two hardline women walk on a U.S. flag in Tehran June 25, 2005. Ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad swept to a stunning landslide victory in presidential elections on Saturday and immediately vowed to turn Iran into a strong and exemplary Islamic state. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl
Why weren't "Jimmah" Carter or any of the other UN observers there to see that this was a fair election? If the UN doesn't send observers and approve the results it can't be a "real" election can it?
/sarcasm off
"The regime will be collapsed sooner than we expect"
I think you may be right, and I am praying hard that you are right.
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