Breaking news: Iranians express slight disinterest at oppressive theocracy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061217/wl_afp/iranvote_061217101315
Ahmadinejad allies fail to sweep Iran vote
TEHRAN (AFP) - Ultra-conservatives close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
have failed to sweep twin Iranian elections with embattled moderate forces
recording a respectable performance, initial results have showed.
Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appeared to have sprung a surprise
by reaping by far the most votes and beating a hardline rival in the election
for the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses the supreme leader.
In the keenly-watched race for Tehran city council, reformists were on course
to take a handful of seats and end total conservative domination of the body
which has prevailed since the last local vote in February 2003.
While moderates are still far from the force they were under Khatami's presidency
-- when at one point reformists dominated parliament and local councils -- the
results will provide some encouragement for their leaders.
Ahmadinejad allies fail to sweep Iran vote
TEHRAN (AFP) - Ultra-conservatives close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
have failed to sweep twin Iranian elections with embattled moderate forces
recording a respectable performance, initial results have showed.
Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appeared to have sprung a surprise
by reaping by far the most votes and beating a hardline rival in the election
for the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses the supreme leader.
In the keenly-watched race for Tehran city council, reformists were on course
to take a handful of seats and end total conservative domination of the body
which has prevailed since the last local vote in February 2003.
While moderates are still far from the force they were under Khatami's presidency
-- when at one point reformists dominated parliament and local councils -- the
results will provide some encouragement for their leaders.