Main rival Mousavi galvanised the under-30s, who make up one-third of eligible voters, writes MARY FITZGERALDForeign Affairs Correspondent, in Tehran
THE MODEST building from where Ayatollah Khomeini directed revolutionary Iran can be found in a narrow alley on the foothills of the Alborz mountains that overlook north Tehran. Known as the Husaniyah Jamaran, the house and adjoining mosque where Khomeini received visitors while perched on an elevated platform has been a place of pilgrimage for Iran’s Shia faithful since his death two decades ago.
Yesterday the complex was transformed into a polling station, one of scores dotted across this sprawling city where Tehranis queued for hours in searing heat to cast their vote in what has become the most fiercely contested presidential election the country has ever witnessed.
At Khomeini’s former home, black-turbaned clerics waited to vote alongside labourers and scruffy students in jeans and trainers. There were women wearing the traditional flowing black chador and women in designer sunglasses, silk headscarves and heavy make-up. Keeping an eye on proceedings were dozens of young, bearded men belonging to the basij – Iran’s voluntary militia.
Given Husaniyah Jamaran’s place in the annals of the Islamic republic, it was hardly surprising that many of Iran’s eminences grises chose to vote here under the platform where Khomeini once held court, and where the white chair he used still stands.
Among those voting at Jamaran yesterday were former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami.
Khatami’s arrival prompted a scrum of well-wishers yelling religious greetings as they pressed around the diminutive former president, who is regarded fondly by reformist-minded Iranians.
The enthusiasm that has gathered momentum around Mir Hussein Mousavi, a former prime minister and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s main challenger in this election, has brought back memories of the Khatami era for many.
Mousavi promises greater social freedoms, robust economic management and detente with the West if he is elected.
“I’m not a fortune teller but as far as I can see Mousavi should win,” Khatami said as the crowd heaved around him.
When Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and one of four candidates running for the presidency, swept into the complex surrounded by a retinue of burly minders, there were already rumours of turnout so high as to be unprecedented.
“This is very important,” Rezaei told The Irish Times. “I am happy that so many people are voting with a sense of responsibility. The people’s decision is what matters.”
Outside, Farahnaz, a chador-clad housewife whose two young daughters trailed behind her, explained why she was voting for Rezaei. “He is better than all of them. Ahmadinejad has caused huge inflation and he is a liar,” she said.
That accusation is a common refrain from those who belong in the “Anyone but Ahmadinejad” camp. The incumbent’s rivals have focused on Iran’s limping economy to devastating effect, accusing him of manipulating statistics to conceal the extent of the nation’s fiscal challenges. Earlier this week Ahmadinejad insisted that inflation stood at 15 per cent – much lower than the 25 per cent cited by officials. He later admitted the latter figure was correct.
“I am sorry that our president tells lies. A president should be honest and just. That is why I am voting for Mousavi,” said Sajad, a theology student.
More than anything, this presidential race has turned into a referendum on Ahmadinejad, pitching those who cheer his populist economic policies, conservative outlook and fiery rhetoric against those who bristle at everything he represents.
Yesterday’s election, and the often acrimonious campaign leading up to it, has exposed Iran’s many faultlines: between urban and rural; pious and secular; the wealthy, educated elite and the illiterate poor; those who want the country to embrace globalisation and those who fear their way of life may be under threat.
Last night an election official predicted that turnout could surpass the nearly 80 per cent that brought Khatami to power 12 years ago.
Such a high turnout is expected to favour Mousavi, whose carnivalesque campaign rallies galvanised the under-30s, a crucial demographic that accounts for more than two-thirds of the country’s population and one-third of eligible voters.
Apart from skewering the president’s economic policies on the hustings, Mousavi appealed to Iranians’ sense of national pride, arguing that the country’s image had been damaged by Ahmadinejad’s posturing. Iranian passports now have the same status as Somalia’s, he quipped regularly.
“I believe in Mousavi,” said Somaya (25), a computer engineer, after she voted in Jamaran. “I want to be proud of my nationality again.” Sisters Azar (21) and Negar 18, agreed. “Ahmadinejad has brought nothing but trouble,” said Negar. “All our friends are voting today. It is too important not to,” said Azar. “We need change in our society.”
Reza (45) was more sober in his analysis. Like many older Mousavi supporters, he praises the former prime minister’s role in the 1979 revolution, his personal ties with Khomeini, and his stewardship during the difficult years of Iran’s war with Iraq. “Mousavi managed everything very well then and I like his personal qualities,” he said.
Across the city, however, there was overwhelming support for Ahmadinejad among the thousands attending Friday prayers at Tehran University, the largest such gathering in the capital. Many of those bussed to the weekly prayer from Tehran’s poorer hinterlands are relatives of those who died in the Iran-Iraq war.
“We are all praying for Ahmadinejad’s victory,” a group of women chorused as they pulled their chadors around them.
Fatemeh Aghani (57) held up an ink-stained finger to show she had voted. “Ahmadinejad knows what the poor people need,” she said. “And he brought us nuclear power.”
Elham, a 20-something chemical engineer, echoed the views of many at the prayers when she explained that she supports the president because he is a pious man. But two women came close to whisper that they had voted for Mousavi. “He has proper plans for this country,” said one. “Ahmadinejad does not.”