Pendragon_6
06-25-2005, 10:14 AM
From Anthony Loyd in Tehran
25 June 2005
THE ultra-conservative Mayor of Tehran coasted to a shock victory in Iran’s presidential elections last night, a development that threatens to stifle the social reforms initiated by his predecessor and set his country on a new collision course with the West.
With more than 80 per cent of the votes counted, election officials said that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 49, held a commanding lead of 61 per cent over his reformist rival, Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70.
The Interior Ministry declared Mr Ahmadinejad the winner. “Poor provinces have voted massively for Ahmadinejad,” an unnamed ministry official said.
With five candidates knocked out in the first round of voting last week, the run-off pitted Mr Ahmadinejad, against Hojatoleslam Rafsanjani, a restyled reformist and former president. Reformists had pinned their hopes on the young people who initially boycotted the election voting to block Mr Ahmadinejad, whose proposed punishment for criminals is to chop off their hands. “This is a fight between reformists and conservatives,” said Nafisa, a 21-year-old student, as she cast her ballot at Fakhrabad Mosque in Tehran.
In Full
Times On line (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C251-1668211%2C00.html)
25 June 2005
THE ultra-conservative Mayor of Tehran coasted to a shock victory in Iran’s presidential elections last night, a development that threatens to stifle the social reforms initiated by his predecessor and set his country on a new collision course with the West.
With more than 80 per cent of the votes counted, election officials said that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 49, held a commanding lead of 61 per cent over his reformist rival, Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70.
The Interior Ministry declared Mr Ahmadinejad the winner. “Poor provinces have voted massively for Ahmadinejad,” an unnamed ministry official said.
With five candidates knocked out in the first round of voting last week, the run-off pitted Mr Ahmadinejad, against Hojatoleslam Rafsanjani, a restyled reformist and former president. Reformists had pinned their hopes on the young people who initially boycotted the election voting to block Mr Ahmadinejad, whose proposed punishment for criminals is to chop off their hands. “This is a fight between reformists and conservatives,” said Nafisa, a 21-year-old student, as she cast her ballot at Fakhrabad Mosque in Tehran.
In Full
Times On line (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C251-1668211%2C00.html)