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Iranians vote in parliamentary runoff elections

04 May 2012 20:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iranians lined up at polling stations Friday for a second round of parliamentary elections seen by the country’s leaders as endorsement of their controversial nuclear development program, state media reported, APA reports quoting Associated Press.

Conservative opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad already won an outright majority of seats of the new parliament in the first round of elections held in March. Only 65 seats in the 290-member legislature are still in contention.

Ahmadinejad and his wife, Aazam Farahi, cast their ballots in the afternoon without making any remarks to waiting reporters, an unusually glum appearance for the normally talkative president.

Ahmadinejad, voted in for the second time in 2009 in a hotly disputed election with the backing of the clerical establishment, has seen his political fortunes decline sharply after he was perceived to have defied Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s authority in April 2011 and tried to expand the authority of the presidency.

The new parliament will begin its session in late May. It has no direct control over major policy matters like Iran’s nuclear program, but it can influence the selection of Ahmadinejad’s successor and other top officials and give backing to the policies of Khamenei.

Iranian leaders are showcasing the voter turnout â€” officially, 64 percent in the first round â€” as a sign of trust in the clerical-led system and rejection of Western pressure over the nuclear issue.

The West suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and is demanding that Iran stop uranium enrichment. Iran has refused, saying its program is aimed at power generation and cancer treatment.

"My advice is that people take the runoff as seriously as the first round," Khamenei said in comments carried live by state television after he cast his vote.

"I voted only because our leaders need our support to go for (nuclear) talks," said Ali Attar, 23, an electrical engineer.

Iran and world powers held a round of talks in April in Istanbul, the first in a year. Little progress was made beyond agreement to resume the discussions in Baghdad later this month. Iran has said it will ask the West to end or ease its sanctions, but Western nations have already rejected that.

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani told state TV that a high voter turnout Friday would soften Western attitudes.

When the West and some regional countries find out that Iranian government has the strong support of its people, he said, "Global enemies will be pushed back and peace will return to the region."

Fatemeh Nourmohammadi, a teacher, said she voted to back the government. "Our country needs our votes. It is in the middle of many difficulties both inside and outside," she said. "We have to support it."

Of the 130 candidates, two for each of the 65 seats, 69 are conservative opponents of Ahmadinejad, about 26 favor the president and the rest are centrists. Although Ahmadinejad is likely to serve until the end of his term in August 2013, his allies have been pushed out of key posts and his political clout has been weakened.

State TV said major polling stations were packed with people voting for 25 of the capital’s 30 seats in the parliament. The other five were decided in the first round.

Some said they were voting over economic issues. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions over the nuclear issue have hit Iran hard, contributing to double-digit inflation and unemployment.

"I have to finish my job," said Reza Behjatpour, 20, a university student. "In the first round I voted for those who resisted the inflation-creating policy of Ahmadinejad’s administration."

"I voted for the group that will help more jobs to be created," said Morteza Riahei, 30, a worker. "Ahmadinejad could not bring more jobs. We need some people in the parliament to push him in a right direction."