Iran's new president is a former operative of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for the nation's missile and nuclear
weapons programs.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been elected by a landslide in a victory that
stunned U.S. and other Western diplomats. On June 24, Ahmadinejad, the mayor
of Teheran, defeated Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who headed the
Expediency Council, the regime's watchdog over what had been a
reformist-dominated parliament.
The 49-year-old Ahmadinejad, who participated in the takeover of the
U.S. embassy in Teheran, in 1979, was regarded as the most anti-Western of
the presidential candidates.
Most Western diplomats had expected Rafsanjani to become Iran's next
president in an election stage-managed by the regime, Middle East Newsline reported. The diplomats pointed
to the first place win by Rafsanjani — who in 2000 failed to win a
parliamentary seat — in the first round of elections on June 17.
His campaign was supported by his former
employers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij volunteers.
"My mission is to create a role model of a modern, advanced, powerful
and Islamic society," Ahmadinejad said.
Iranian state television said Ahmadinejad obtained 61.6 percent of the
vote while Rafsanjani's garnered 35.9 percent. The rest of the nearly 28
million ballots — marking a 59 percent turnout — were deemed invalid.
During both election rounds, the Interior Ministry complained of
interference by regime supporters and institutions. At one point, the
Guardian Council, which oversees government activity, vetoed an Interior
Ministry decision to close polling stations deemed as having been
taken over by Basij operatives.
"All the means of the regime were used in an organized and illegal way
to intervene in the election," Rafsanjani said.
Ahmadinejad, a civil engineer by training, has called for an increase in
salaries, drop in prices, cheap loans and a stricter public dress code.
Unlike previous Iranian presidents, Ahmadinejad is not a cleric.
Over the last year, Ahmadinejad criticized what he termed were
concessions by the Khatami government to the European Union regarding its
demand for a permanent suspension of Teheran's uranium enrichment program.
The program has been under the supervision of the IRGC.
"I do hope I always remain an ordinary member of the Iranian people,"
Ahmadinejad said.
