Iranian election roundup, 2 June 2009

Ten(!) days left.

The candidates:

Ahmadinejad (محمود احمدی نژاد, top left) - you all know him, he wants a second term
Rezaei (محسن رضایی, bottom left) - he's a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, and even more of a hardliner than Ahmadinejad. His role will be to take hardliner votes away from those disappointed in Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi (میر حسین موسوی, top right) - the other main contender, he was endorsed by former president Khatami and has reformist tendencies. He was prime minister in the 1980s.
Karroubi (محدی کروبی, bottom right) - reformist, and also the only cleric running for office. Says he'll support Mousavi in the second ballot if there is a runoff. It's also possible that he might drop out earlier to support Mousavi.

The debates have started now and the first one took place today between Karroubi and Rezaei, and you can see the debate format in the video below. It resembles more of a sit-down discussion on a news program and comes across as a bit tame, but then again this debate for both of them is more about getting their message across (since neither of the two are really competing for the same votes), and perhaps more sparks will fly in the others.



Tomorrow will be the big debate: Mousavi and Ahmadinejad.

• Will pro-Israel groups miss Ahmadinejad? - some will I'm sure, as a holocaust-denying president of Iran is a pretty easy strawman to make use of. Those that are simply pro-Israel (i.e. not specifically anti-Iran or anti-anything else) will likely be glad to see him gone.
  
• Nuclear policy may not change under a new president, just the tone
• Russian foreign minister Lavrov urges Iran to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program
  

Mousavi

• Mousavi on the suspension of uranium enrichment in 2003 and resuming enrichment two years later
• Mousavi keeps up the attack on Ahmadinejad's economic and foreign policies
• Undecided voters are the wild card in this election
  

Ahmadinejad

• Ahmadinejad says the movement that brought him to power in 2004 is still dynamic
• Ahmadinejad says he is the target of destructive scenarios and a psychological war by his opponents
• Ahmadinejad pledges to hold firm against world pressure
• Economy is Ahmadinejad's big election test
• Ahmadinejad accuses rivals of Hitlerian propaganda
  

Karroubi

• On the debate between Karroubi and Rezaei
  

Rezaei

• Support for Rezaei may force Ahmadinejad into a runoff second round