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.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
MILITARY’S MAN: Myint Swe was diagnosed with neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy disease, and had authorized another to perform his duties Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s acting president under controversial circumstances after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, died yesterday, the military said. He was 74. He died at a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, in the morning, Myanmar’s military information office said in a statement. Myint Swe’s death came more than a year after he stopped carrying out his presidential duties after he was publicly reported to be ailing. His funeral is to be held at the state level, but the date had not been disclosed, a separate statement from the
RSS