Iran to Have 1st Presidential Runoff Ever

[merwin]

Iran to Have 1st Presidential Runoff Ever

By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - None of the seven candidates in Iran's closely contested presidential election won an outright victory, forcing the country to schedule the first presidential runoff in its history.

Former parliamentary speaker Mahdi Karroubi, a moderate reformer, did surprisingly well, keeping pace with the favorite, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, in early returns.

But neither they nor any other of the seven candidates would collect more than 50 percent of the vote, the condition for a clear victory, an Interior Ministry official involved in the counting told The Associated Press on Saturday. He said a second round of voting would take place next Friday.

The June 24 runoff will decide who inherits a long list of challenges, including nuclear talks with the West and demands for reform at home.

Turnout in Friday's vote appeared stronger than expected and polls stayed open an extra four hours, with voting booths even set up at Tehran's main cemetery for those paying weekly visits to family graves. Some credited U.S. denunciations of the election for goading more Iranians to cast ballots after a Western-style campaign that has reshaped Iranian politics.

........


------------------

On a side note, it has just come to our attention that George W Bush has been elected by a landslide!

[Kipling]

1. Makes no difference

The Council of Guardians has too firm a grip for this to matter.

[Wright Patman]

2. Is that Iran's version

of the CFR, Trilateral Commission, PNAC, etc.?

I assume it has something to do with the so-called Revolutionary Guards.

Frankly, not being an oilman or Likudnik, it's too far away from here for this to matter to me, no matter who was running.

One of these days the 'hyperpower' will have its hands full just trying to maintain order on the middle portion of the North American continent and that day may be sooner than we think.

[Yupster]

3. The way I understand it

and I am by no means an Iranian expert, but Iran has a functioning democracy, but there is an appointed Council of Guardians who are a body of hard-line clerics who must approve or veto any candidate for office, or law that is to be passed.

It must be very frustrating to elected officials to work hard getting compromise legislation passed just so it can be vetoed by a bunch of 80 year old fundamentalists.

The Iranian population is very young and supposedly very frustrated in the roadblock which the Council puts up. It seems like eventually the population will rise up against these unelected leaders in Cauocesku (sp) fashion, if we can stay out of their way.

Or maybe I have it al wrong.

[Igel]

4. Yep, all rolled into one compact little group of people.

They don't like a candidate, the candidacy's revoked ... even post-election.

They don't like a law, the law's revoked or not allowed to be voted on.

They don't like some activity, they have their own militia that the elected government is generally afraid to take on.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Update: arch-conservative to run off against Rafsanjani

Tehran's arch-conservative mayor capped a stunning political rise Saturday to claim second place in Iran's presidential race and face one of the nation's most famous statesmen in a head-to-head vote.

Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a 49-year-old former student radical backed by Iran's ruling clerics and their military guardians — was considered a long-shot challenger in Friday's election. But he rode to the presidential run-off on his popularity among Iran's hard-line factions and key groups such as the elite Revolutionary Guards.

One rival, former parliament speaker Mahdi Karroubi, accused Islamic vigilantes and soldiers of "intimidating" voters to back Ahmadinejad — who slipped past Karroubi 19.48 percent to 19.3 percent. Karroubi's aides demanded an official probe and warned they could unleash street demonstrations.
...
The top vote-getter, political veteran Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, was left shaken with just slightly more than 21 percent of the ballots. He will face Ahmadinejad next Friday in Iran's first run-off elections. To win outright, a candidate needed a majority of all votes cast.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050618/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_elections

[FLBlueFaced]

6. This "election" is a joke.

[Henny Penny]

7. ha ha! n/t

[dkofos]

8. Hey, Iranians

Next time you have a revolution, leave religion out of it.

It worked for US.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Only for the first 204 years (n/t)