TEHRAN, June 19 (UPI) -- The former president of Iran is set to face off against the mayor of Tehran in a runoff presidential election next week.
Working-class Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surprised analysts by coming in second to former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani by a margin of 400,000 votes, beating out many better-known, better-financed candidates, in the first round of voting, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Two losing candidates have accused militias and uniformed Revolutionary Guards of intimidating voters on behalf of Ahmadinejad, and Mehdi Karrubi, a moderate cleric who finished a close third, appealed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, to investigate the allegations.
The runoff, scheduled for Friday, will pit Ahmadinejad, who has said Iran should turn to its theocratic roots for strength, and Rafsanjani, who has said Iran would become a stranger nation by turning outward.
The match between the working-class mayor and the millionaire ex-president also carries strong undercurrents of social class conflict.
