Rafsanjani faces run-off for Iran presidency, say aides

TEHRAN - Pragmatic cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was likely to face a run-off vote against reformist Mostafa Moin after failing to secure outright victory in Iran's presidential elections, aides to both men said.

Their predictions matched some pre-election opinion polls and would set up an unprecedented second round between the two candidates who have done the most to challenge long-held taboos in the Islamic state, such as talks with arch-foe Washington.

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari also said none of the seven candidates won the 50 per cent support needed, meaning a run-off between the top two contenders would be required.

A Rafsanjani-Moin contest, likely to be held on June 24, would be difficult to call, analysts had said before the vote.

"Moin definitely has a chance of beating Rafsanjani in the second round," said political analyst Mahmoud Alinejad.

Even many of the conservative candidates had adopted the language of reform, such as greater increased personal freedoms, and ditched open hostility to the West, to appeal to young voters eager for the Islamic state to come out of isolation.

Official results were not expected until later on Saturday.

Whoever wins, unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all state affairs and anti-Western hard-liners run key organs of power, like the courts.

"Rafsanjani and Moin are the first two, according to our surveys. They are the ones who will compete in the second round," said Mohammad Atrianfar, a close aide to Rafsanjani who is bidding to regain the post he held from 1989 to 1997.

Moin ally Mohammad Ali Abtahi, adviser to outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami, predicted the former education minister would face Rafsanjani in a second round.

A government official, who asked not to be named, also said the 70-year-old Rafsanjani and ex-education minister Moin, 54, would go into a run-off vote.

US President George W Bush slammed the poll as undemocratic, drawing rebuttals from Iranian officials.

After a lively campaign featuring Western-style TV adverts and noisy street rallies that flouted normally strict Islamic moral codes, turnout appeared stronger than expected.

"If I don't vote, some hard-liner will get in, who would make things worse," said student Ali Memarian, 21, voting in upscale north Tehran.

"We should fight for freedom trench by trench."

Voting was extended by four hours to accommodate latecomers.

Analysts said hard-line conservatives had weakened their hand by failing to unite around one candidate.

A group of conservative parties backed former state broadcasting chief Ali Larijani. But fellow conservatives Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former Tehran mayor, and ex-police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf refused to stand aside.

Rafsanjani is a veteran politician who wants better ties with the West and would be likely to pursue a pragmatic reform programme, liberalising the economy and preserving social freedoms without antagonising the powerful clerical elite.

"I have promised people to continue reforms and I am sure I can deliver my promises," he said after voting.

His campaign portrayed him as the only one with the political savvy and influence to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West and repair ties with Washington, which broke diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Moin, who was allowed to run only after the last-minute intervention of Khamenei, ran a daring campaign that challenged some of the basic principles of the Islamic state, including the Supreme Leader's power.

But analysts say a Moin government could face the same kind of hard-line backlash that prevented outgoing President Khatami from delivering improvements in social and political freedoms.

Interior Minister Mousavi-Lari forecast turnout of about 60 per cent, down from 67 per cent in the 2001 presidential poll.

Political analysts say Iran's clerical leaders will trumpet any turnout over 50 per cent as an endorsement of the Islamic republic's unique mix of theocracy and democracy.

- REUTERS