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Reformists accused military of rigging vote Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8836930http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8836930
Partial Iran vote recount after rigging allegations
Mon Jun 20, 2005 06:41 AM ET
By Paul Hughes
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Electoral authorities on Monday ordered a partial recount of Iran's inconclusive presidential election after reformists accused military organizations of rigging the vote in favor of a hardline candidate.
The recount comes just four days ahead of an expected second round run-off between the top two candidates in Friday's poll -- pragmatic former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline mayor of Tehran.
Friday's run-off, forced after none of the original seven candidates secured an absolute majority, is likely to have a major impact on Iran's relations with the world and the future of fragile reforms in the Islamic Republic.
Rafsanjani, 70, bidding to regain the post he held from 1989 to 1997, rebranded himself as a liberal for the campaign, saying the time was right to open a new chapter in Iran-U.S. ties and indicating he would increase social and political freedoms.
His surprise rival Ahmadinejad, 49, who would be Iran's first non-cleric president for 24 years if he won the run-off, ran a far more modest campaign focusing on the need to tackle poverty and revive the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
But reformist critics, some of whom have accused the state's military organizations of nefariously boosting Ahmadinejad's vote, say he represents the tip of an ultra-conservative plot bent on imposing a totalitarian system in Iran.
Iran's hardline Guardian Council, which has the final word on election results, said it would randomly recount votes from 100 ballot boxes in Tehran and three other major cities.
Just two million votes separated first from fifth place and pundits were stunned by Ahmadinejad's strong showing after opinion polls had shown him trailing well down the field.
Third-placed reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, who asked for the partial recount, said some Ahmadinejad votes were bought.
Two newspapers which printed his accusations in a daringly critical letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were closed by the hardline judiciary late on Sunday.
RAFSANJANI CALLS FOR SUPPORT
Rafsanjani urged Iranians to defeat the extremist threat represented by Ahmadinejad in the run-off.
"I seek your help and ask you to be present in the second round of the election so that we can prevent all extremism," Rafsanjani said in a statement published in several newspapers.
Many political analysts, while stunned by Ahmadinejad's strong showing in the first round, said reformists had provided no concrete evidence of vote rigging and had underestimated the mayor's strong support among Iran's large mass of pious poor.
"Ahmadinejad sold himself as a Robin Hood -- hardworking, honest, a man of the people," said an analyst who declined to be named. "He represents the resentment of people toward those who are doing better, driving fancy cars and so on."
Mohsen Faraji, 25, member of the Basiji militia who enforce social restrictions such as Islamic dress codes for women, said an Ahmadinejad win would herald a new era for the Islamic state.
"History will remember this election," he said. "A wave of change is coming. People want Ahmadinejad as he's one of them." Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of Iran's largest reform party and younger brother of outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami, said an Ahmadinejad win would cement control by hard-liners over all Iran's elected and unelected bodies.
"Ahmadinejad is just a front," Khatami told Reuters. "If he wins Khamenei will really rule everything ... we will not have free elections and opposition voices won't be tolerated."
Islamic hard-liners, many of them former Revolutionary Guards members, won control of many city councils and Iran's parliament in 2003 and 2004 elections marred by low turnout.
Despite reformist distaste for Rafsanjani, who many accuse of amassing great personal wealth and ordering the murder of political dissidents during his previous terms in office, he was the lesser of two evils, Khatami said.
"Although we may not agree with all Rafsanjani's programs we have to support him."
Iran's largest pro-reform students organization, which boycotted Friday's election, also said it would actively campaign for a Rafsanjani win.
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Edmund Blair, Amir Paivar and Christian Oliver)
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