TEHRAN —A push by Iranian authorities for widespread voter participation appeared to have been successful on Friday, as a steady flow of traffic at polling stations prompted officials to extend voting hours into the evening.
Iran’s Ministry of the Interior announced that the polls would remain open beyond the customary 6 p.m. ending point. With temperatures reaching 95 degrees, some Iranians said they would wait until after the sun went down to cast their ballots.
Four years after contested ballot results that led to months of unrest here, authorities went to great lengths to minimize public campaign events. But they still urged all Iranians to come out and vote, and citizens of the Islamic Republic appeared on Friday to be doing so.
After some leading reformists were barred from running and other candidates dropped out, Iranians are choosing from among six presidential contenders, including nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, widely seen as the most hard-line ideologically; Hassan Rouhani, a cleric and relative moderate who pledged to create a new Ministry of Women if elected; Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf; former foreign minister Akbar Velayati; Mohsen Rezaei, longtime commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard; and Mohammad Gharazi, a former head of the ministry of Post, Telegraph and Communications.
At the Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in the commercial district of Tajrish in Tehran’s north, long lines to vote extended into the bazaar connected to it. Two men in their twenties discussed who they planned to support.
“I’m voting for Rouhani, because he knows the languages of the world, which made him more successful in negotiations,” said one.
“Open your eyes,” his friend told him, “everything we have now is because of Jalili and his courage.”
Rouhani’s prospects improved when Jalili, Ghalibaf and Velayati all stayed in the race, threatening to split the conservative vote. Now that Rouhani is seen as having a chance of winning, many urban and educated Iranians who might not otherwise have voted have indicated that they will go to the polls.
“I was planning to vote for Ghalibaf, but now I see that Rouhani has a lot of support,” said Jaffar, a 30-year-old web designer. “I will vote for one of them, because I want to reduce Jalili’s chances.”
Also potentially boosting voter turnout, local council elections are being held on the same day as the presidential vote for the first time. In rural areas, the local elections are considered especially important and always attract high participation.
Ghalibaf, who was leading in a recent and unusual poll, is perceived as a technocrat who has improved public transportation, created many green spaces, and implemented several information technology initiatives. One of his slogans is “I build Tehran now let’s build Iran.”
Rouhani, although a cleric, has the backing of reformists and moderates, including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Jalili, at 47 the youngest candidate in the race, promotes a platform based on “resistance” to Western pressures. Such resistance thus far has led to little progress in nuclear negotiations with world powers, a weakness referred to repeatedly by his rivals throughout the presidential campaign.
Security throughout Tehran was high as the polls opened, with police stationed every few hundred yards and watching over major city squares, and armed military conscripts guarding the entrance of polling stations. Despite the heavy security presence, or perhaps because of it, the atmosphere was calm.
Voting got underway early with what is arguably Iran’s most influential vote, that of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei cast his ballot in a brief early morning appearance at a mosque inside his heavily secured central Tehran compound, offering no hints about which candidate he hopes will succeed controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Until now I haven’t told anyone who I voted for. Not even the people closest to me. Not my family and not my children. They are not aware who I voted for,” Khamenei said.
All six presidential candidates are considered to be loyal to Khamenei, but there are variations in their plans for domestic and foreign policy, especially in terms of their proposed handling of nuclear negotiations with global powers.
In choosing the successor to Ahmadinejad, whose second term has been marred by accusations of economic mismanagement and attempts to undermine the authority of the Islamic Republic’s powerful clergy, some analysts believe that foreign policy concerns, particularly relations with the United States, will be at the top of the next president’s agenda.
Khamenei, however, dismissed the importance of the U.S. view on Iranian domestic politics.
“I heard recently that someone in America’s National Security Council said that we don’t accept Iran’s elections,” Khamenei said, an apparent reference to a comment by Secretary of State John F. Kerry. Kerry said last month that he did not expect the elections to “change the fundamental calculus” of Iran’s nuclear policies, which he said are controlled by Khamenei, and not the president.
“To hell with those who don’t accept it,” said Khamenei.
Iran’s Ministry of the Interior announced that the polls would remain open beyond the customary 6 p.m. ending point. With temperatures reaching 95 degrees, some Iranians said they would wait until after the sun went down to cast their ballots.
Four years after contested ballot results that led to months of unrest here, authorities went to great lengths to minimize public campaign events. But they still urged all Iranians to come out and vote, and citizens of the Islamic Republic appeared on Friday to be doing so.
After some leading reformists were barred from running and other candidates dropped out, Iranians are choosing from among six presidential contenders, including nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, widely seen as the most hard-line ideologically; Hassan Rouhani, a cleric and relative moderate who pledged to create a new Ministry of Women if elected; Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf; former foreign minister Akbar Velayati; Mohsen Rezaei, longtime commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard; and Mohammad Gharazi, a former head of the ministry of Post, Telegraph and Communications.
At the Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in the commercial district of Tajrish in Tehran’s north, long lines to vote extended into the bazaar connected to it. Two men in their twenties discussed who they planned to support.
“I’m voting for Rouhani, because he knows the languages of the world, which made him more successful in negotiations,” said one.
“Open your eyes,” his friend told him, “everything we have now is because of Jalili and his courage.”
Rouhani’s prospects improved when Jalili, Ghalibaf and Velayati all stayed in the race, threatening to split the conservative vote. Now that Rouhani is seen as having a chance of winning, many urban and educated Iranians who might not otherwise have voted have indicated that they will go to the polls.
“I was planning to vote for Ghalibaf, but now I see that Rouhani has a lot of support,” said Jaffar, a 30-year-old web designer. “I will vote for one of them, because I want to reduce Jalili’s chances.”
Also potentially boosting voter turnout, local council elections are being held on the same day as the presidential vote for the first time. In rural areas, the local elections are considered especially important and always attract high participation.
Ghalibaf, who was leading in a recent and unusual poll, is perceived as a technocrat who has improved public transportation, created many green spaces, and implemented several information technology initiatives. One of his slogans is “I build Tehran now let’s build Iran.”
Rouhani, although a cleric, has the backing of reformists and moderates, including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Jalili, at 47 the youngest candidate in the race, promotes a platform based on “resistance” to Western pressures. Such resistance thus far has led to little progress in nuclear negotiations with world powers, a weakness referred to repeatedly by his rivals throughout the presidential campaign.
Security throughout Tehran was high as the polls opened, with police stationed every few hundred yards and watching over major city squares, and armed military conscripts guarding the entrance of polling stations. Despite the heavy security presence, or perhaps because of it, the atmosphere was calm.
Voting got underway early with what is arguably Iran’s most influential vote, that of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei cast his ballot in a brief early morning appearance at a mosque inside his heavily secured central Tehran compound, offering no hints about which candidate he hopes will succeed controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Until now I haven’t told anyone who I voted for. Not even the people closest to me. Not my family and not my children. They are not aware who I voted for,” Khamenei said.
All six presidential candidates are considered to be loyal to Khamenei, but there are variations in their plans for domestic and foreign policy, especially in terms of their proposed handling of nuclear negotiations with global powers.
In choosing the successor to Ahmadinejad, whose second term has been marred by accusations of economic mismanagement and attempts to undermine the authority of the Islamic Republic’s powerful clergy, some analysts believe that foreign policy concerns, particularly relations with the United States, will be at the top of the next president’s agenda.
Khamenei, however, dismissed the importance of the U.S. view on Iranian domestic politics.
“I heard recently that someone in America’s National Security Council said that we don’t accept Iran’s elections,” Khamenei said, an apparent reference to a comment by Secretary of State John F. Kerry. Kerry said last month that he did not expect the elections to “change the fundamental calculus” of Iran’s nuclear policies, which he said are controlled by Khamenei, and not the president.
“To hell with those who don’t accept it,” said Khamenei.