The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #121502 Message #2655118
Posted By: GUEST,beardedbruce
12-Jun-09 - 04:19 PM
Thread Name: BS: Election in Iran
Subject: RE: BS: Election in Iran
Rivals in Iran both claim victory in election
Anna Johnson And Brian Murphy, Associated Press Writers – 18 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's state news agency reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election Friday, but his main reformist challenger also confidently claimed victory at a news conference moments earlier. The rival claims came even before the close of polls, which authorities permitted to stay open an extra six hours, until midnight (1930 GMT, 3:30 p.m. EDT), to allow long lines of voters to cast ballots. Official results were not expected until Saturday.
Neither the report in the IRNA news agency nor the competing announcement by Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi gave details on what their claims were based on.
Mousavi said only that he was "definitely the winner of the election" based on "all indications from all over Iran."
Iranians packed polling stations Friday from boutique-lined streets in north Tehran to conservative bastions in the countryside with a choice that's left the nation divided and on edge: keeping hard-line President Ahmadinejad in power or electing Mousavi, a reformist who favors greater freedoms and improved ties with the United States.
Turnout was massive and could break records. Crowds formed quickly at many voting sites in areas considered both strongholds for Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s and has become the surprise hero of a powerful youth-driven movement. At several polling stations in Tehran, mothers held their young children in their arms as they waited in long lines.