Iran Gears Up For Tight Presidential Race

Source: Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran was gearing up on Thursday for a fiercely-contested presidential election, with passions running high after a campaign of mass public rallies, stormy television debates and mudslinging.

Friday's poll has emerged as a close race between front-runners Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline incumbent, and moderate former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, seeking a comeback after two decades in the political wilderness.

The campaign has highlighted deep differences in the Islamic republic after four years under Ahmadinejad, whose hardline rhetoric on the nuclear stand-off and against Israel has isolated Iran from the West, while his expansionist economic policies have also come under fire at home.

Analysts are still hesitant to pick a winner, suggesting the vote may be a repeat of 2005 when a relatively unknown Ahmadinejad scored a stunning upset in a second-round runoff against heavyweight cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The campaign has witnessed massive street demonstrations and unprecedented public animosity among the candidates who have been hurling insults and allegations of lying and corruption at each other on prime time television.

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Not just for the country of Iran, but also for the global ramifications. We can debate what power the President of Iran has, but there is no question that the election represents the closest thing Iran will have to the voice of the people. Given that the "Guardians" can control who can and cannot run, they are not truly free to voice their will.

But if they elect Mousavi, it will send a CLEAR message that they don't want that asshat Ahmadinejad representing them or being the image that people see when they think of Iran.

I would not be surprised if either side scored a landslide.