Emotions Running High as Iran Heads Into Presidential Runoff

Nahid Siamdoust and John Daniszewski, The LA Times:

The ultraconservative mayor of Tehran and a more moderate former president launched Iran's official two-day presidential runoff campaign Tuesday, plowing ahead in search of votes in spite of fresh charges that the first-round balloting had been illegal.

Reformers vowed to rescue the country from becoming "fascist" or "Taliban" if Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were elected, while a spokesman for the conservative insisted that he was not extremist and was being demonized by reformers.

Emotions on all sides were running high for the vote Friday between Ahmadinejad, 48, and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70. The election could determine whether Iran will maintain its hostility toward the United States and its insistence on continuing a nuclear program, or adopt a more conciliatory foreign policy and compromise on nuclear issues.

A furious campaign got underway among moderates and reformers to prevent the election of Ahmadinejad. Cellphone text messages circulated widely, most urging Iranians to vote for Rafsanjani "lest Iran fall into the hands of a fascist government and be destroyed."

Opponents of the Tehran mayor also stood in the street, stuffing fliers through the windows of passing cars. The fliers read, "Rescue Iran, step forward and participate," and showed a white X over a black circle, which one Iranian said meant "No to dictatorship."

Even some staunch reformists who have been highly critical of Rafsanjani, a stalwart of the 1979 revolution that ushered in Iran's Islamic government, were calling on people to vote for him.

The moderate-controlled Interior Ministry — which, along with the conservative Guardian Council, is responsible for counting votes — spelled out its objections to Friday's first round, saying there was a widespread pattern of official interference. The ministry raised concerns that the same thing could happen in the runoff.

"We have exact information about the people and institutions who have been acting in directing and shaping votes the day before the election," said Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, a ministry spokesperson. "These people and institutions have acted against the clear orders of the imam [the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] and … against the correct wording of the law, and have interfered in the elections." READ MORE

Although the ministry was confirming evidence of vote fraud, no one is seeking to postpone the runoff until those allegations are investigated. Instead, opponents of Ahmadinejad are focusing their energies on getting out their supporters this Friday. The losing side might press for an investigation afterward, however. READ MORE

At a news conference Tuesday, Elahe Koulaee, spokesperson for defeated reformist Mostafa Moin, read a statement by the former candidate saying he would vote for Rafsanjani.

At a Tuesday night news conference, the third-place finisher in the first round, former speaker of parliament Mehdi Karroubi, said he believed that he had come in first, winning in most of Iran's provinces.

But the official results in three cities, Tehran, Esfahan and Qom, gave Ahmadinejad his victory, Karroubi said, insisting that those results were suspicious.

In Khorasan province, Karroubi said, there were about 270,000 eligible voters, yet Ahmadinejad received 298,000 votes.

"It must be an angel from the sky who gave those to him," he said.

Karroubi said the Guardian Council and the Revolutionary Guards had instructed their rank and file how to vote, stuffed ballot boxes and intimidated voters. Both institutions are controlled by Iran's unelected supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"If I survive," Karroubi said, "I will do something to the Guardian Council to cut off their hands and not let them interfere in our future elections. Their supervision is expected, but not this way."

"Do not boycott the election," he said. "Go and vote. Otherwise they are going to make an Iranian Taliban here. The fanatics are coming, and people are not going to enjoy peace and security any longer."

But Ahmadinejad's spokesman and the Tehran City Council president, Mehdi Chamran, said the campaign was not aware of any fraud. Chamran held his own news conference at which he said the mayor was a peaceful and moderate man.

Chamran denied rumors sweeping Tehran that if Ahmadinejad were elected, separate entrances would be instituted at government buildings for men and women and that men would have to start wearing a kaffiyeh, the checkered scarf that Ahmadinejad often wears.

"This is not true," Chamran said. "This is just something they are saying that is meant to destroy our standing among the people."