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Iran to have the first presidential runoff in its history

Iran will have its first runoff presidential election in its history, officials said yesterday, after front-runner Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani failed to win enough votes for outright victory. The main pro-reform candidate struggled for a second-place spot, trailing hard-liners.

With about three-quarters of the votes counted from Friday's presidential contest, Rafsanjani strengthened his hold on the top spot with 21.5 percent after a strong voter turnout that defied a boycott drive by dissidents.

Friday's voting showed a large turnout in a resounding rejection of a youth-led boycott -- with lines of voters forcing polling to continue four hours overtime. Iran's hard-line leaders crowed that US President George W. Bush helped fuel the turnout by sharply criticizing the elections as undemocratic and angering many Iranians. A day before the election, Bush sharply denounced the vote, saying it was designed to keep power in the hands of the clerics. But some Iranians said they were motivated to vote to retaliate against Bush's denunciations.

``I picked Ahmadinejad to slap America in the face,'' said Mahdi Mirmalek after attending Friday prayers at Tehran University.

The race for No. 2 -- and a place in the two-man second round election next week -- was up for grabs. Conservatives were making a strong showing. Mahdi Karroubi, the former parliament speaker, held the second spot with 20.2 percent. Karroubi is a close a close ally of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who heads the non-elected theocracy. Karroubi was trailed by Tehran's conservative mayor, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, with 17.2 percent.

The top pro-reform candidate, Mostafa Moin, had fallen to fifth place with 14.3 percent, behind Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former head of the national police, with 15.2 percent.

The final outcome -- expected yesterday -- could significantly reshuffle the race for runner-up. City voters favored Rafsanjani and Moin, a former culture minister. A run-off is needed in Iran's tightest presidential election since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
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