Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 25 – “Ahmadinejad? Who’s he?”
This was the typical reaction of most Iranians a day after the first round of presidential elections in Iran, when they heard that the two candidates facing each other in the run-off were veteran politician Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the little-known, ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 25 – A 49-year-old former commander of the Revolutionary Guards became the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a “landslide” victory over former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, cementing the grip of ultra-conservatives led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on all the levers of power in the theocratic state. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Mayor of Tehran since April 2003, was unknown to most Iranians before the first round of presidential elections on June 17.

The Guardian: Iran’s presidential election was hit by fresh ballot-rigging allegations last night as voters chose between a veteran establishment candidate and a hardliner promising to restore the values of the Islamic revolution. The head of the central electoral committee called on Tehran’s provincial governor to suspend balloting amid claims of violations and abuses. But voting was extended by at least two hours.

Washington Post: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line
mayor of Tehran who has invoked Iran’s 1979 revolution and expressed doubts about rapprochement with the United States, won a runoff election Friday and was elected president of the Islamic republic in a landslide, the Interior Ministry announced early Saturday.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 24 – A tour of a dozen polling centres in the western neighbourhoods of Tehran between 2 pm and 6 pm, usually a busy voting time, showed that they were mostly quiet, confirming reports from other parts of the capital that the turnout is lower than last Friday. No more than a handful of voters were spotted at polling centres in Hejab School in Youssef-Abad district, Ebrahim School in Azadi Street, Qaem School in Behbudi Street, and Chamran School
in Azadi Street.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 24 – Members of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s campaign team were spotted in several cities in western Iran, including Nahavand and Kermanshah, offering cash for votes. The current rate is 30,000 Rials per vote in the second round of the presidential election. The former President’s cash offers and eleventh-hour drive to win votes reflect growing anxiety among his top aides that the 70-year-old cleric is losing to Tehran’s ultra-conservative mayor.