In Iran, poll campaign is excuse for one big party

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(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-11 10:09

Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attend his last presidential campaign in Tehran, on June, 10, 2009, prior to the upcoming 10th presidential election slated for Friday. [Xinhua]

"Our young people don't often get a chance to say what they want. They like to express themselves by coming to the streets," said one middle-aged onlooker, Hamid Saeedi.

Northern Teheran is dominated by supporters of former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, a moderate who is seeking to deny Ahmadinejad a second four-year term.

Some supporters of Mousavi, who has attacked Ahmadinejad's "extremist" foreign policy and says he would seek detente with the West, drove expensive four-wheel drives plastered with photographs of the bearded, bespectacled 67-year-old.

Ahmadinejad, a self-styled champion of the poor who often rails against the West, draws support mainly from poor southern Teheran and rural areas where people have benefited from his handouts of cash and investment projects to help those in need.

But his backers make their presence felt also in this part of Teheran. "I'm here so Ahmadinejad knows that he is not alone," said a 22-year-old who gave his first name as Mehdi.

A man who was selling green balloons to Mousavi supporters also said he would vote for the incumbent. "This is purely business," said Saeed Ebrahimi, 25, who came from a poor area. "Ahmadinejad is the only one who cares about our pain. He gave us water and electricity."

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