Ahmadinejad, Mousavi Both Claim Victory in Iranian Polls
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and presidential candidate casts his vote during the Iranian presidential elections on June 12, 2009 in Tehran, Iran. Ultra conservative and current President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is running against conservative reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. (Photo by Majid/Getty Images)more pics »Moderate ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed victory in a hotly contested presidential vote in Iran on Friday while state news agency IRNA said hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won.
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According to the interior ministry, all those in line at that time would be allowed to cast their ballots in the most hotly contested election since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago.
Even as the tail-enders were still voting, Mousavi called a news conference in Tehran to claim victory.
"In line with the information we have received, I am the winner of this election by a substantial margin," Mousavi said.
Only minutes earlier, close Mousavi aide Ali Akbar Mohatshemi-Pour told AFP his candidate had won 65 percent of the vote.
IRNA, however, announced that Ahmadinejad had won reeleection.
"Doctor Ahmadinejad, by getting a majority of the votes, has become the definite winner of the 10th presidential election," it said.
The interior ministry said preliminary results were expected around 4:00 am on Saturday (2330 GMT Friday).
Iran's economic woes and its relationship with the outside world emerged as key issues during a feisty campaign marked by carnival-like street rallies and acrimonious candidate debates on prime-time television.
The election turned the spotlight on deep divisions in Iran after four years under Ahmadinejad, whose firebrand rhetoric further isolated the country from the West while at home he has come under fire over his economic policies.
Ahmadinejad, 52, is seeking a second four-year term, while the 67-year-old Mousavi is hoping to make a comeback after two decades in the political wilderness, pledging better ties with the outside world.
US President Barack Obama, who has called for dialogue with Iran after three decades of severed ties, said on Friday he saw the "possibility of change."
The race also includes reformist former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and the ex-head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezai, but they are running far behind.
Analysts have been reluctant to forecast a winner, suggesting the vote may mirror 2005 when the relatively unknown Ahmadinejad scored a stunning upset in a second-round runoff against heavyweight cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
A runoff will be held on June 19 if no single candidate emerges with 50 percent plus one vote.
Mohsen Esmaili, a member of the powerful Guardians Council which supervises the election, forecast turnout of at least 70 percent of the 46.2 million-strong electorate.
The election has highlighted divisions after 30 years of clerical rule in a country where 60 percent of the population was born after the revolution, and it is being keenly watched by the international community to determine future foreign policy.
Young men and women in big cities are throwing their weight behind Mousavi while Ahmadinejad, who is pledging to help the poor and stamp out corruption, draws passionate support from rural towns and villages.
"I always voted and will vote for the most competent, Ahmadinejad. He serves the people," said civil servant Mehrab Ayoub, 28.
But Saadat Mir Ebrahimi, a 43-year-old hairdresser from working class southern Tehran, said she was voting for Mousavi as she was desperate for change.
"My husband is unemployed. We can't live on two million rials (about 200 dollars) with three kids," she said.
Both front-runners promised a better future as they cast their ballots, with Ahmadinejad hailing the large crowds gathered at the polling stations, where men and women, many dressed in black chadors, formed separate lines.
Mousavi sent an open letter to Khamenei urging that the ballot boxes be properly guarded, warning of the risk of "illegal acts" and claiming his monitors had been barred from polling stations.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said "no incidents of irregularities had been reported so far."
Hamid Reza Jalaipour, an official with Mousavi's campaign, told AFP that three pro-Mousavi reformist news websites -- Moj-e No, Norooz and Emrooz -- had also been blocked since Friday afternoon.
Mousavi has pledged to improve relations with the outside world, although there are doubts of a real shift in nuclear policy as all strategic decisions are in the hands of the all-powerful Khamenei.
Obama is offering to open dialogue with a nation branded by his predecessor as part of an "axis of evil" but Iran remains locked in a standoff with the international community over its nuclear drive, which the West fears could be a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons.
Ahmadinejad's rivals have accused him of mismanaging the economy through his expansionist policies, while Mousavi has been credited with handling the nation's finances well as premier during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
OPEC's second biggest oil exporter is battling rampant inflation of 24 percent, rising unemployment and a slump in earnings from crude oil.
Mousavi -- whose wife is a high-profile artist and academic -- has also pledged to better the lot of women, who face many restrictions under the country's conservative clerical rulers.
"He holds his wife's hand. It's like a European president. Such a person can care about women's rights," said restaurant cashier Mina Faiz.
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