Presidential election in Iran 2005

Election winner Mahmud Ahmadinejad in September 2007

Akbar Hāschemi Rafsanjāni campaign stand

The 2005 Iranian presidential election took place on June 17, 2005 . None of the candidates could achieve an absolute majority. In the run-off election of the two most successful candidates on June 24th, Mahmud Ahmadinejad surprisingly prevailed.

A change in political style was associated with Ahmadinejad. Rafsanjani’s family was associated with the rampant corruption among the population, and the connection with the clergy was noted as entanglement. Ahmadinejad acted here with the reputation of having acted successfully as provincial governor in the 1990s and as mayor of Tehran since 2003, independently of the political and religious establishment. His bourgeois lifestyle became part of the election campaign. He received votes especially in the lower strata of the population, who saw themselves disconnected from economic growth, and in the countryside. Ahmadinejad compensated for the lack of localization in the clergy with statements with which he distinguished himself as a religious hardliner.

prehistory

There were initially eight candidates who had been approved by the Guardian Council from 1,014 registered applicants. Mohsen Rezai resigned from his candidacy a few days before the election.

In contrast to the other candidates, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led a fairly simple election campaign without large election rallies and huge posters. His campaign was funded by his supporters.

The reformers' candidate was Mostafa Moin , who was also supported by the main party of the reformist camp, the Participation Front of Islamic Iran .

Election campaign and procedure

The election campaign for the Iranian presidential elections in 2005 was conducted on television, radio, on posters and at speeches and dominated in the media by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani . The former President of Iran (1989–1997) enjoyed considerable support from business and clergy circles. He enjoyed the reputation of the pragmatist who was partly responsible for the economic upswing of the 1990s, but could not clearly prevail in the first ballot. His share of the vote (official: 21.0%) was surprisingly slightly better than Mahmoud Ahmadineschad's (official: 19.4%). Since he missed an absolute majority, a run-off election was scheduled, which Ahmadinejad won with a landslide victory (61.7% versus 38.3%).

Result

Result of the first ballot:

Candidates	be right	%
Rafsanjani	6,179,653	21.0
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad	5,710,354	19.4
Mehdi Karroubi	5,056,686	17.2
Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf	4,075,189	13.8
Mostafa Moin	4,069,699	13.8
Ali Larijani	1,716,081	5.8
Mohsen Mehralizadeh	1,287,440	4.4
invalid votes	1,200,000	4.2
total	29,400,857	100%

The turnout was 62.6%. Serious allegations of election manipulation were raised immediately after the election. a. by Mostafa Moin and Akbar Hāschemi Rafsanjāni , who, according to polls before the election, should lead with around 30%. Former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karrubi said that over a million ballot papers had been cast in favor of Ahmadinejad. In addition, some voters have cast their vote up to ten times. Furthermore, Ahmadinejad announced his election success hours before the official result by the Interior Ministry.

Since none of the seven candidates was able to achieve an absolute majority in the first election on June 17, 2005 , a runoff election between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad had to decide on the next Iranian president on June 24 . Ahmadinejad emerged victorious from the runoff election on June 24, surprising not only for Western media.

Result of the runoff election

Candidates	be right	%
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad	17,284,782	61.7
Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani	9,210,853	38.3
invalid votes	663.770	2.37
total	27,958,931	100%

In the runoff election, the turnout was 59.7%. Bahman Nirumand described the election as a "miracle" if the elections of recent years are taken as a basis, the Conservatives had an average of five to eight million votes. However, Ahmadinejad received more than seventeen million votes in the runoff election. Allegedly, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi is also said to have instructed his followers to vote for Ahmadinejad.

On August 3, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was officially installed in office. The term of office is four years.

See also

• History of Iran since 1979

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} princeton.edu ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 2005 Presidential Election , accessed February 2, 2013 
2. ↑ Ulrich Ladurner : Iran: Greasy Confessions of Old Men. In: zeit.de. June 16, 2005, accessed December 2, 2014 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ Matthias Gebauer: Reformers speak openly of fraud. In: Spiegel Online. June 19, 2005, accessed December 2, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Krakow: Iran: "Iran's President as Robin Hood". In: zeit.de. June 27, 2005, accessed December 2, 2014 . 
6. ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/ahmadinejad.htm