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Election arrests ahead of iran presidential poll { June 23 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5894494&cKey=1119538222000http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5894494&cKey=1119538222000
June 23, 2005 4:50 PM
Election arrests ahead of Iran presidential poll
By Paul Hughes
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday it had arrested 26 people, including at least one military figure, for suspected electoral violations ahead of an unpredictable presidential run-off vote.
The arrests appeared to lend some credence to reformist charges that an inconclusive first round vote on June 17 was marred by dirty tricks.
The reformists question a late surge in support which took hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into Friday's run-off.
Ahmadinejad, 48, a former Revolutionary Guardsman who draws his support from Iran's pious poor, faces veteran cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a vote that has split the Islamic state broadly along class lines.
Supporters of Rafsanjani, 70, who is bidding to regain the post he held from 1989 to 1997, say a win for Ahmadinejad would roll back outgoing President Mohammad Khatami's modest reforms and could lead Iran into international isolation.
Citing an Interior Ministry statement, the official IRNA news agency said 104 cases of electoral violations had been recorded in the first round, leading to 26 arrests.
Most were involved in the distribution of CDs and pamphlets that criticized another candidate in the race.
One of the arrested was a "prominent military figure" who had "delivered speeches against a candidate and destroyed the image of the Islamic system," IRNA said.
Defeated reformist candidates, now backing Rafsanjani, have accused the hardline Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia of supporting Ahmadinejad. Electoral laws bar members of the military from campaigning for any particular candidate.
Ahmadinejad says the allegations are further smears in what has become an acrimonious campaign.
CLERIC SAYS HE'S NOW A LIBERAL
Despite being a Shi'ite cleric and a key founder of the Islamic state, Rafsanjani now casts himself as a liberal. He has vowed to increase social and political freedoms, liberalize the economy and seek better ties with the West.
His support base lies mostly among the upper and middle classes and senior bureaucrats terrified of the sweeping changes Ahmadinejad may bring to OPEC's No. 2 oil producer.
Ahmadinejad's supporters, in contrast, come mostly from the working class, rural poor and unemployed who admire his humility and pledges to redistribute the country's vast oil income.
"Ahmadinejad appeals to working class Iranians who feel that the oil wealth has left them behind," said Karim Sadjadpour, Tehran-based analyst for the International Crisis Group. "They're counting on him to look out for them."
Opinion polls, unreliable in the past, show the two men neck-and-neck. Analysts say the vote is too close to call.
Campaigning officially ended at 9 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Thursday exactly 24 hours before polls open. The minimum voting age is 15 and 47 million people are eligible to vote. Results are expected on Saturday.
Speaking on Wednesday night Ahmadinejad dismissed rumors that he would introduce strict gender segregation in public and force women to wear the head-to-toe chador.
"The country's true problems are unemployment and housing, not what to wear," he told state television.
He said he was in favor of Iran joining the World Trade Organization, but stressed that local industry must be protected. "We need time and we need to defend our industry."
Washington, which accuses Iran of building atomic arms and backing terrorism, again criticized the polls on Wednesday.
"We stand with the Iranian people who want more freedom," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "This election that has taken place, continues to take place. It's not a democratic election. There have been questions raised about it."
Reuters
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