Iran polls: Prez loses ground
Tehran, March 4: Loyalists of Iran’s paramount clerical leader have won over 75 per cent of seats in Parliamentary elections, a near-complete count showed, largely reducing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a lame duck in a contest between conservative hardline factions.
The outcome of Friday’s vote, largely shunned by reformists whose leaders are under house arrest, will have no major impact on foreign policy including the nuclear dispute with the West. But it will give Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s camp a significant edge in the 2013 presidential election.
The widespread defeat of Mr Ahmadinejad’s supporters was likely to erode the authority of the presi- dent, under fire from Mr Khamenei’s allies for challenging the utmost authority of the supreme leader in Iran’s multi-layered ruling hierarchy.
With 90 per cent of ballot boxes counted, Mr Khamenei acolytes were expected to occupy more than three-quarters of the 290 seats in the Majlis (Parliament), according to a list published by the interior ministry.
In the race for the 30 seats in the Islamic Republic’s capital Tehran, a tally of unofficial preliminary returns showed Mr Khamenei supporters had taken 19 and pro-ahmadinejad candidates the rest.
Pro-khamenei candidates won in the Shia holy cities of Qom and Mashhad and were leading in major provincial cities like Isfahan and Tabriz, where over 90 per cent backed Mr Ahmadinejad in the 2009 poll.
Even in rural areas that have been strongholds of Mr Ahmadinejad’s and his populist brand of non-clerical nationalism, Mr Khamenei loyalists appeared to have swept around 70 per cent of the seats.
Independents and women candidates fared relatively well in many provincial towns, where they campaigned on the immediate concerns, generally economic, of their constituents.
Final election returns are expected by Monday.
— Reuters Washington: US President Obama will greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday for what are likely to be the most consequential talks the two leaders have had. The significance is because of the topic that will dominate their discussion: Iran. The conversation could determine nothing less than whether there would be a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities sometime before the US elections in November. High-priority topics will include how much time to be given to the sanctions that both the US and Israel hope, can persuade Iran to change course on its nuclear ambitions; what to expect from international talks with the Iranians — which are expected to resume in the next month or so; and each leader’s red lines that, once crossed, would trigger military action against Iran. The Obama-netanyahu relationship is actually less strained than conventional wisdom would suggest, some experts with close knowledge of the two leaders say. The tensions between the two over Iran is more to do about differing assessments.