The Iranian Elections: 'Anti-US sentiment behind victory'

LONDON, June 25 (IranMania) - For his supporters Mahmood Ahmadinehjad is an honest bureaucrat and rare friend of the poor. For his opponents the Tehran mayor is a dangerous reactionary set on taking Iran back to the dark ages, AFP reported.

Whatever the truth, Iran will soon be finding out who Ahmadinejad really is as he heads to a shock presidential election victory over Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Here he is in his own words.

PERSONAL LIFESTYLE

"I declared all my assets as the constitution orders. I live on a teacher's salary and thank God I'm content."

"My biggest asset is huge -- it is my love for serving people, and nothing can compare to that."

"A revolutionary manager is not empowered by expensive office accessories and several secretaries."

"I take pride in being the Iranian nation's little servant and street sweeper."

RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES

"In the past, the Americans broke off relations with Iran to create pressure. If they want to re-establish them now it is for the same reasons. We do not want to have imposed relations."

"The US administration cut off ties unilaterally to lay waste to the Islamic republic. They want to restore them today for the same reason."

"I want sincere and close relations with all nations and governments and we are ready to have a positive interaction towards any government that does not take the position of animosity towards us."

IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

"The Iranians want to possess civilian nuclear technology. The world should know that it cannot contain this effort.

"We will discuss in a rational way and if they accept our legitimate right (to enrich), we will cooperate. Otherwise nothing will force the Iranians to comply with their demands."

"It is us who should impose our conditions on them and not them on us, and if they do not accept our conditions, it's simple -- we won't buy anything from them."

"With more thought in foreign policy we can make the other nations who are against us having this technology acknowledge our right to it."

IDEOLOGY

"Freedom is the spirit of the Islamic revolution and it is God's biggest gift to the Iranian nation. We want to spread freedom in all aspects and we will have the biggest freedom in the spheres of economy, society and politics.

"Today the freedom in Iran is unique but compared to the desired freedom we are just at the beginning of the way."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

"I believe women have certain qualities, such as being responsible and precise."

"Some draw fake lines between men and women as if they were two different classes. We all belong to the same nation and must not have a sexist attitude."

"It is a big lie to say that, if the country turns revolutionary, managers will only care about women's scarves slipping back."

YOUTH

"A young person who sports a certain outfit or haircut is dear to us and an asset to the country. We have to attract them by kindness, a nice attitude and creating an ideal atmosphere."

"There is an organised promotion of decadence and it is up to the government to find a solution and protect people."

THE ECONOMY

"National resources must be freed from the state and given to people to use them for the advancement of the country. There must be justice and equal opportunities for all."

"Unemployment, marriage and housing are the main priorities. Our government will support the poor, but that is not to say it will be against others."

"As for joining the WTO, we will enter the organisation with a powerful economy. We will definitely not open the doors if industries and agriculture would be sabotaged. We will give precise study before doing so."

....in Iran’s topsy-turvy political scene, Ahmadinejad and his fierce loyalty to the Islamic regime is now deemed to be the anti- establishment choice, against the ultimate insider Rafsanjani, who has been tainted with past charges of corruption and links to political killings.

How else to explain the surge of popular support in recent days that reaches beyond conservative circles, to include many young people who, on first glance, would appear to be reform-minded supporters of outgoing president Mohamad Khatami?

“He’s concerned about people, and knows the pain of this society much better than the others,” says Makdis Pournikoo, an 18-year-old student laden with make-up and a minute head scarf—signs that might normally put her in the “reformist” camp.

Does she fear a tightening of social rules — which in the past involved beatings for wearing such dress — under an Ahmadinejad regime?

“Maybe there is a need for a little bit of restriction,” says Ms. Pournikoo, self-consciously pulling her headscarf up to cover more hair. “Anyway, we know how to restrict ourselves....

http://www.csmonitor.com/earlyed/early_world062405.htm

June 25, 2005, 2:39 PM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran -- The groundswell that carried Tehran's hard-line mayor to the presidency had humble origins -- places such as a wobbly bench on a small wedge of grass.

It's a spot Hasan Zafarian comes sometimes to think about the facts that keep him up at night. He has a university engineering degree, yet only a part-time job in a shoe warehouse. No savings. No car. He turns 30 in two months.

"But, maybe, God willing, I have someone on my side now," he said Saturday, holding a photo of the bearded populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who shot from provincial obscurity to Tehran city hall to Iran's highest elected office in just two years.

A main reason is gloomy, tread-water folks like Zafarian. Ahmadinejad won them over with a simple but profound act: He paid attention.

His campaign rarely strayed from the uncomfortable realities of poverty, unemployment and limited options squeezing millions of Iranians; apartment blocks with crumbling facades; and hardscrabble villages. For many, the concerns about social freedoms and human rights were distant rumbles.

"The reformists had forgotten about the poor people," said political analyst Vahid Pourostad.

In Friday's presidential runoff election, Ahmadinejad steamrolled Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran's best-known statesman, taking more than 61 percent of the vote.

The lessons of Ahmadinejad's startling rise will take weeks to fully digest, but it almost immediately rearranged sensibilities. Vast impoverished corners of Iran suddenly felt noticed. Progressive groups fighting to protect reforms moaned they were doubly orphaned -- losing both the election and a sympathetic president, Mohammad Khatami, who helped spur progress after taking office in 1997.

"People have been talking about head scarves and TV shows and music. Wonderful," said Hamid Nowrouzi, 30, a machinist. "But what about talking about having enough to eat or raise a family?"

Ahmadinejad's one-word campaign catchphrase -- "Dignity" -- resonated strongly in a country that, on paper at least, should not have a per capita gross domestic product of about $7,500 a year, about a fifth of the United States and in the same neighborhood as Bulgaria and Romania.

Iran is the No. 2 OPEC producer, and foreign investors are salivating for Iran's hungry consumer market.

But the ruling theocracy controls all important business policies and contracts, and critics say it has fostered a cozy and corruption-riddled system. The group Transparency International ranked Iran about the middle of the pack in its 2004 "corruption perception" index, ahead of India but behind Mongolia.

Official statistics say unemployment is about 16 percent, but some analysts place the true figure above 30 percent. Some reports also say up to 40 percent of Iranians live under the poverty line -- the point where income cannot keep pace with basic needs.

The 49-year-old Ahmadinejad was unnoticed before the first round of voting June 17. Few gave him a chance to challenge Rafsanjani, a self-proclaimed moderate who served as president in 1989-1997. But Ahmadinejad stunned them all, finishing No. 2 behind a shaken Rafsanjani.

Widespread allegations said the Revolutionary Guards and other hard-line factions intimidated voters and manipulated the vote to nudge Ahmadinejad into second place, but the ruling clerics who backed him confirmed the result.

Dismayed pro-reform groups flooded behind Rafsanjani. But Ahmadinejad deftly avoided salvos with liberals, who fear he could push Iran back toward the rigid codes after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He offered only a terse and vague: "I am against extremism."

He counterattacked by portraying the wealthy Rafsanjani as aloof and pampered. Then he rolled out proposals to redistribute government largesse to the provinces and urban poor, boost health and insurance benefits, offer zero-interest agriculture loans and raise minimum pay scales.

It is unclear how much will become reality, but theocracy can open any door if willing.

Business leaders reacted with alarm. To them, Ahmadinejad is an Islamic socialist who eventually will clamp down on private enterprise and the Tehran Stock Exchange.

Still, he did not fight back directly. He only said that Iran was drifting from the values of the revolution -- which sounds scary to Western-oriented Iranians but appeals strongly to those who believe the modernizing of Iran has left them in the dust.

In a final TV campaign pitch Wednesday, he described the Iranian everyman: making the equivalent of about $150 a month and crushed by bills and inflation hovering around 15 percent.

"How can such a person have dignity in front of his children and wife?" he said. "How can a family respect him if he cannot even take care of them?"