Iran presidential election underway

TEHRAN — Millions of Iranians headed to the polls early Friday to choose a new president in balloting that has taken on a competitive edge as a single moderate contender faces off against a splintered array of hard-line hopefuls.

Friday’s election is the first since the disputed 2009 balloting that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term amid allegations of vote-rigging, triggering massive street protests and a police crackdown. Authorities have vowed that the tumultuous scene of four years ago will not be repeated, and security is expected to be tight.

Ahmadinejad is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

Polls indicated that no candidate among the six contenders would garner a majority, forcing a June 21 runoff among the two top finishers, the official news media reported.

The slumping economy has been the major issue, with each candidate vowing to reduce inflation and unemployment. Western-led sanctions tied to Iran’s controversial nuclear program have battered the country. The unemployment rate among young workers reportedly stands at 40%.

Much attention in recent days has focused on the momentum gained by Hassan Rowhani, a centrist initially considered a long shot until the only other moderate-leaning candidate dropped out. Rowhani has enthusiastically embraced reformist themes in recent election rallies, injecting energy into the campaign and raising the hope of moderates long disillusioned about the prospect of change in the Islamic Republic.

It is somewhat of an irony that reform-minded Iranians have abruptly rallied around the candidacy of Rowhani, 65, a bespectacled, white-turbaned legal expert and longtime establishment mainstay who is the only cleric among the would-be presidents.

“There might be some dim light at the end of the tunnel,” said Morteza Nazer Kazemi, 56, a shop owner in the Tehran bazaar who said he had initially planned to skip the vote, but was drawn to Rowhani’s relatively liberal declarations, including his support for reconciliation with the West. “At least if the vote for Rowhani is high, then the hard-liners will realize that the society is pro-reform and for opening up.”

Rowhani’s campaign has been generating buzz, and his support appears to be surging. He was endorsed by two moderate former presidents, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, the latter credited with easing social and cultural restrictions during his 1997-2005 administration.

Rowhani has sought to appeal to the massive youth vote, vowing to reduce unemployment among the young and backing gender equality, a sensitive issue here.

The conservatives, meanwhile, failed to unite around a single officer-seeker, meaning their vote will probably be fractured. The three presumed conservative front-runners are Saeed Jalili, Iran’s nuclear negotiator; former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati; and Tehran Mayor Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, a former air force commander and police chief.

All three are said to be close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in matters of state under Iran’s theocratic system.

Qalibaf, who favors expensive dark suits and is often found typing on his iPad, has sought to project himself as an urban sophisticate who gets things done. Opposition supporters have denounced Qalibaf for his alleged role in crackdowns on student protests in the 1990s, while conservative rivals have sought to portray the mayor as a corrupt politician who compromises with the West and is too lenient on some social issues.

Jalili is a fierce ideologue and devout Muslim who is widely regarded as the candidate of choice of the conservative establishment. The graying veteran wears a prosthetic leg after losing his limb while serving in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, which affords him considerable cache here. He appears to draw support mainly from hard-line conservatives, lower- and middle-rank Revolutionary Guard members, the Basiji militia and hard-core backers of “resistance,” shorthand for standing up to the United States and Israel.

“We do not cave in to the pressures of the West,” Ali Marandi, 23, a political science student, said while visiting the modest Jalili campaign headquarters in downtown Tehran.

Velayati, who is backed by a leading group in the religious center of Qom, has lately climbed in the polls. In a television debate among the candidates, Velayati sharply criticized Jalili’s handling of the nuclear talks with the West, saying he had failed to make a deal and had alienated Iran from the international community. It was a rare public airing of a difference of opinion among Iran’s inner leadership on the extremely delicate nuclear issue.

Rounding out the candidates are two conservative independents, Mohsen Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi.

Political apathy appears widespread among those still disillusioned about the 2009 election, when the reformist “green movement” was smashed and the leading reformist office-seekers were put under house arrest.

“These candidates can’t deliver anything for ordinary people like me,” said Ali Mohammadi, 40, a father of two who works as a proofreader in a Tehran publishing house. “I voted four years ago, and that was enough.”

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran; special correspondent Sandels and Times staff writer McDonnell reported from Beirut.