Iranians went to the polls on June 16 in the country's first presidential vote since the disputed 2009 election that saw Mahmud Ahmadinejad reelected for a second and final term. RFE/RL editors and the team at Radio Farda will provide updates throughout the day and night on the vote, letting you know what's at stake and what comes next for Iran.
Below is a letter obtained by Radio Farda from the Roahni campaign to Abbas Ali Katkhodaei, spokesperson for the Guardians Council.' The email's author noted that the name of Gholan Ali Haddad-Adel -- who also resigned from the ballot -- had been removed from the ballots.
Today, Katkhodaei announced that "supervision of the elections" was the responsibility of the Guardians Council. He added that the council would "prevent any supervision by any other government organ."
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Translation:
Address to: Mr. Katkhodaei
Greetings. Respectfully, based on numerous reports from voters across the country, regretably in some of the polling stations the name of Mr. Mohammad Reza Aref, the candidate who has resigned from the presidential election list of candidates, has not been deleted from the ballots. Therefore, I request that you inform all the polling stations ASAP so that they can delete his name.
Signed,
Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh
Chief of Staff
Election Campaign of Hassan Rohani
13:0714.6.2013
No sign of President Ahmadinejad on #Iranelection day. Is he boycotting the vote? #Iran
Max Fisher at "The Washington Post" picks up a Golnaz Esfandiari blog post about tears on the campaign trail. From her post:
Crying can humanize politicians. Or, it can damage them by making them look weak and providing their opponents an excuse to attack them by claiming they are being manipulative.
Supporters defend Aref's tears as a sign of his sincerity and genuine care for Iranians. The same could be said of the weeping Velayati, who was clearly trying to demonstrate his loyalty to Khomeini and also the pain he still feels over his loss.
Critics, however, will dismiss the emotional display as a political crying game -- a tactic aimed at drawing votes from an emotional and passionate nation.
IRAN -- Screen grab from campaign video of presidential candidate Ali Akbar Velayati
12:4514.6.2013
A caller from Bushehr talks to Radio Farda about why he didn't vote:
"Because of the experience we had in the last election, I decided not to take part in this vote."
"The candidates’ televised debates, especially, their third encounter in which they discussed the nuclear program issues, made some impact. But because of the events after the 2009 elections, I personally was not convinced [to take part in the election]."
"I live in a small city. My impression is that the atmosphere of the current election did not have the excitement of the previous election."
12:4414.6.2013
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf shows his ink painted finger after his vote during the presidential election in Iran.
"I went and cast my vote like the reformists called on us to do. I have many reformist friends. We’ve been talking to each other in recent days and decided to go and vote.”
“I live in a small neighborhood, so there were no big lines of voters, but it is still middle of the day. [Turnout] was reasonably good.”
“From what I heard, Mr. [Hassan] Rohani’s candidacy has been attracting attention. Especially because of the third televised debate between the candidates, more people got to know him. Reformists and those who are close to those circles know him. They know [whom the are voting for], but many others did not know [Rohani]. I think the third debate left an impact.”
