In the shadow of the glittering Shah Abdul Azim shrine, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the unexpected contender in the Iranian presidential run-offs, is seen as a pious working-class hero. ”We can identify with him. His style is humble and not luxurious,” said Mehdi Nasrollahi (32) a stallholder selling the Qur’an and assorted Islamic mementoes in Shahr-e Rey bazaar outside the shrine, which is the resting place for some of the most revered figures in Shia Islam.
Nasrollahi’s firm convictions were reinforced by four posters depicting Ahmadinejad’s ascetic and undeniably Islamic features.
Such expressions of support provided a populist antidote on Monday to the allegations of electoral malpractice swirling around Ahmadinejad’s performance in the Iranian presidential election, where he upset predictions to win a place in a second-round run-off ahead of better-known candidates.
The ultra-hardline mayor of Tehran’s surprise success has provoked bitter recriminations. The election frontrunner, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, described last Friday’s poll as ”tarnished” while two other candidates, Mehdi Karroubi, a moderate cleric who finished third, and Mostafa Moin, the leading reformist, have accused Ahmadinejad of buying votes.
Ahmadinejad denies the allegations. In response, the guardian council — the hardline watchdog overseeing the election — on Monday held a limited recount of the votes in 100 ballot boxes.
But it said there was no evidence of ballot rigging and that a run-off would be held on June 24 as planned, state television reported.
”It has been clarified that there was no discrepancy in the election results,” the report said, citing a letter from the head of the guardian council.
”These allegations are just political bluff and game-playing to make sure the presidency goes to Rafsanjani,” said Nasrollahi, whose exhibits included the black-and-white chequered scarf of the hardline Basij religious militia, which Ahmadinejad once served as an instructor. ”My brother was in charge of one of the ballot boxes and he says there is no doubt Ahmadinejad won the most votes in Shahr-e Rey.”
The allegations surrounding Ahmadinejad, together with fear of his strident conservative views, have had the effect of mobilising an unlikely broad-based coalition behind Rafsanjani ahead of Friday’s run-off.
On Monday Moin’s Islamic Iran Participation Front swung behind Rafsanjani, along with the pro-reform Organisation of the Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution. They were joined by the Office to Coordinate Unity, a student body that had previously boycotted the election in protest at the barring of reformist candidates.
All now see Rafsanjani — a former president and pillar of the Islamic revolution who has recast himself as a voice of moderate reform — as the protector of the limited social freedoms granted under President Mohammed Khatami’s outgoing reformist administration.
These freedoms — including the right of women to wear the hijab in a looser, more colourful fashion — do not cut much ice in working-class Shahr-e Rey, widely regarded as the most pious area around traditionally religious south Tehran.
”Our society is not religious, there is moral corruption,” said Mohsen Talebi (30) who works in an ice cream parlour. ”There’s bad observation of the hijab. That’s important in an Islamic society and it should not be like this.”
But it is economic worries and class resentment that form the heart of Ahmadinejad’s campaign. He has appealed to the poor with his spartan approach as Tehran mayor.
Ahmadinejad lives in a modest house and drives his own car, in contrast to rumours of Rafsanjani’s fabulous wealth.
”Unemployment, inflation and social discrimination are the factors Ahmadinejad thinks should be taken into account,” said his spokesperson, Nader Shariatmadari. ”A gap has emerged between different social classes and we have to find a solution. Access to opportunity and privilege is not available to all the people.” – Guardian Unlimited Â