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Khatami Poised to Win: Iranian Voters
Khatami Poised to Win: Iranian Voters
"I came with my family members to vote for Khatami. Khatami is the man who speaks his minds and is ready to solve the problems people are facing," 36-year-old businessman Ahmad Akbari told Xinhua.
Akbari, who was waiting in a long queue outside the Hosseinei-ye Ershad in northern Tehran, is one of the Iranians who turned out to vote for the incumbent reformist President Mohammad Khatami in the Iran's eighth presidential election.
Starting from 9:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) Friday, Iranian voters began to cast their ballots to, as Khatami put it, "choose a program rather than a person" for the Islamic republic.
Khatami, who swept away over 20 million, or 69 percent of the total votes in the presidential election four years ago, is standing once again as one of the 10 candidates for the 42-million Iranian electorate to choose as Iran's chief executive.
Indeed, Khatami in his first four-year term as president failed to fully carry out his ambitious reform program due to heavy pressure from conservatives, who shut down 40 publications, mostly pro-reform newspapers, and jailed dozens of reformist journalists and Khatami's allies.
Failure to create enough job opportunities for the young people is Khatami's Achilles heel that risks wearing away people's confidence in his ability to push forward his reform.
The official statistics show that unemployment rate is running at 16 percent, as independent researchers indicated that the real figure was much higher.
Despite the setback, the mild-minded president still remained popular throughout the country.
"I give credit to Mr. Khatami for creating a more civil atmosphere. An open cultural atmosphere is by no means less important than the improvement in economic field," said Akbari, the Iranian businessman.
At a polling booth close to Neda Square in the well-heeled northern part of Tehran, the line stretched to a corner of nearby block as more voters joined shortly before noon.
A middle-aged scholar, who said he voted for Khatami four years ago, told Xinhua that his ballot will go to the same person this time.
"I appreciate Mr. Khatami's programs on granting greater social freedom to people," said the man, who declined to be named.
"The economy is not as good but we can not simply blame on Khatami," he said, with his family members nearby nodding to his comment.
Voters believed that Khatami, whose scholarly, well-dressed and fatherly air is attractive to many Iranians, especially youth and women, would likely sweep to a second term.
"He (Khatami) can receive more than 80 percent of the votes," a university student said on condition of anonymity.
However, when asked about whom they would vote for, Khatami or Ali Shamkhani, Iranian defense minister and Khatami's contestant, two servicemen near a polling station smiled without speaking.
So far, Iranian Interior Ministry has not announced percentage of voters who cast their ballots. But huge turnout was reported shortly after Iranians over the age of 15 flocked to polling stations.
Voter's turnout is expected to set a new record. Iran's Interior Ministry has announced that the voting would be extended to 24:00 local time (1930GMT), five hours longer than scheduled.
In case of any violation, one inspector and three supervisors were sent to each ballot box by the election watchdog Guardians Council to monitor the process. In addition, more than 10,000 law enforcement personnel were responsible for the security.
The final results of the election might be announced on Saturday, one day ahead of scheduled Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said earlier.
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