Contest or no contest?
Reporters write as if this is really a campaign. Is it? How can we tell?Iran's Election Turns on President's 'Truths'
The "truths" that have made Ahmadinejad a populist success-- including his strongly worded defense of Iran's nuclear program, his declared ambition to make Iran one of the world's most powerful nations, his repeated denials of the Holocaust and his threats against Israel -- have also become major issues in his campaign for reelection to a second four-year term...Ahmadinejad's main challengers advocate better relations with the United States. They promise to ensure that Iran's nuclear program will have strictly peaceful purposes, and they say the Holocaust should not be an issue in Iranian politics...
All the candidates, including Ahmadinejad, have pledged to continue Iran's efforts to enrich uranium, despite U.N. sanctions. All of them share hostility toward Israel. But the challengers say Iran should reach out to other nations and soften the tone of its foreign policy, which is largely set by the country's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...
For all their differences over foreign policy, however, Iran's incumbent president and his challengers are even more sharply at odds over domestic priorities. Ahmadinejad has appealed to the country's downtrodden, particularly the rural poor, promising to raise their salaries and pensions. He has even handed out potatoes...
Ahmadinejad's opponents contend that his populist efforts to redistribute wealth among Iran's 67 million people have caused high inflation, slower economic growth and a steep rise in unemployment...
If no candidate captures a majority of the votes June 12, the two top vote-getters will compete in a runoff a week later. The challengers have warned of possible election fraud and have called for thousands of independent monitors to observe the balloting...
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:06 AM
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Another reporter writes as though the Iranian election is a real contest. Is it?
Big Crowd for Moderate Reflects Serious Challenge to Iran’s Leader"The strongest challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attracted an unusually large and exuberant crowd of supporters on Monday during a campaign speech in this northwest city near the candidate’s birthplace, with only a few weeks before national elections that the incumbent stands a serious chance of losing.
"The crowd for the challenger, Mir Hussein Moussavi, was extraordinary not only for its size — an estimated 30,000 — but also because the supporters were not paid, given free food, bused in or ordered by their workplaces to attend, a tactic sometimes used by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s campaign...
"Mr. Moussavi is considered the most serious threat to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s re-election among the three challengers. The other two, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate, and Mohsen Rezai, a former leader of the Revolutionary Guards, have lagged in voter opinion polls.
Mr. Ahmadinejad still has considerable support among Turkish speakers, especially in poor rural villages. Many low-income Iranians voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad four years ago because of his pledges to raise their standards of living..."
Iran President and Challenger Clash in Debate
"A moderate politician who is considered the strongest challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran accused him on live television on Wednesday of undermining the nation’s interest by constantly questioning the Holocaust and by engaging in an adventurist foreign policy...
"Mr. Ahmadinejad, who opened the debate, presented himself as a lonely incumbent who was being challenged by a powerful circle of leaders eager to bring him down. He said that two former presidents, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, were supporting Mr. Moussavi to end his tenure...
"Mr. Ahmadinejad contended that the early founders of the Iranian revolution, including Mr. Moussavi, had gradually moved away from the values of the revolution’s early days and had become “a force that considered itself as the owner of the country.”
"He suggested that some leaders had indulged in an inappropriately lavish lifestyle, naming, among others, a former speaker of Parliament, Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, who has opposed some of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s policies...
"Because the state-run television has given presidential candidates limited time to broadcast campaign videos, the debates could prove crucial...
"There are no private television stations, and candidates have accused Mr. Ahmadinejad of using state-run television for his own political advantage. The head of the state television is appointed by the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on state matters."
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