Iranians headed to polls yesterday after three weeks of mass rallies, a series of fiery television debates and mudslinging among the four presidential candidates.
With the interior ministry predicting record voter turnout, the poll has emerged as a tense race between incumbent hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main challenger, moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is seeking a comeback after two decades in the political wilderness.
The two other candidates are reformist former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and the former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezai.
Polls opened at 8am yesterday and may continue until midnight depending on turnout, election officials said.
Campaigning, which began on May 22, saw Iranians pour into streets and party until dawn in support of their favorite candidates, mainly Mousavi and Ahmadinejad.
This year’s campaign has been almost unprecedented in its ferocity, with candidates hurling insults and allegations of lying and corruption at each other on prime time television.
Observers say the level of mudslinging has never been seen before in the Islamic republic.
“One thing is clear. Iran will never have television debates involving presidential candidates in the future. They just did not handle it with maturity,” one foreign diplomat based in Tehran said.
Surveys showed that the three challengers were more likely to benefit from protest votes against Ahmadinejad rather than votes in their favor.
“The sympathies and antipathies for and against the president will have a bigger impact on the election outcome than the programs of the three rival candidates,” an election observer said.
The interior ministry predicted a record turnout in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic, with 46.2 million Iranians over the age of 18 eligible to vote. Both the presidential and the opposition camps hope to benefit from the high turnout.
It was widely expected that Iranians who oppose the prevailing Islamic system but who have so far avoided elections would vote this time.
Ahmadinejad claims that his government has returned “dignity and pride” to the Iranian nation and vows to continue this trend in the next four years.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS: Beijing’s ‘pronounced aggressiveness’ and ‘misbehavior’ forced countries to band together, the Philippine defense chief said The Philippines is confident in the continuity of US policies in the Asia-Pacific region after the US presidential election, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said, underlining that bilateral relations would remain strong regardless of the outcome. The alliance between the two countries is anchored in shared security goals and a commitment to uphold international law, including in the contested waters of the South China Sea, Teodoro said. “Our support for initiatives, bilaterally and multilaterally ... is bipartisan, aside from the fact that we are operating together on institutional grounds, on foundational grounds,” Teodoro said in an interview. China’s “misbehavior” in the South
RSS