Iran - presidential election

Voters turn out en masse

Article published on the 2009-06-12 Latest update 2009-06-13 10:20 TU

Iranian clerics wait to vote at the shrine of Hazrat-e Massoumeh, in Qom, 12 June 2009.
(Photo: Reuters/Damir Sagolj)

More than 46 million people are eligible to vote in Iran's presidential election on Friday. Half of them were born after the Islamic revolution and the ouster of the Shah in 1979. A very high turnout was reported at midday.

Election officials predict record turnout. "Voter turnout has been unprecedented," election commision chief Kamran Daneshjoo told the press on Friday, and he added that polling had been extended by two hours to 8 pm (1530 UT).

Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces a tough challenge from former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi in Friday's first round presidential elections. Ahmadinejad, 52, is aiming for a second four-year term, while 67-year-old Mousavi has spent two decades in the political wilderness. He has pledged better ties with the outside world. Ahmadinejad's rhetoric has further isolated the country from the West while in Iran, he has been cricitised for mishandling the economy of the second largest oil exporter in OPEC.

The race includes two other candidates, reformist former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and the ex-head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezai, but they are running far behind.

Ahmadinejad was relatively unknown when he won in 2005, in a second-round runoff against heavyweight cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

If no single candidate emerges with 50 percent plus one vote in Friday's first round, a second round will be held on 19 June.