Election in Iran skips a backdrop of religion

Tehran, Iran - The campaign to succeed Mohammad Khatami as president of Iran has marked a significant shift in the nature of the political discourse in the country, with politicians of all backgrounds taking up the language of reform while studiously avoiding the language of revolution.

In what is widely viewed as a nod to political reality in Iran, where Khatami won with huge victories driven by younger voters in 1997 and again in 2001, almost everyone in the race has talked about quality-of-life issues and corruption and the economy and not about religion.

They gave their speeches at universities, in parks and in stadiums, and not at mosques.

"Candidates are not chanting ideological slogans any more," wrote Sahar Namazikhah in a recent edition of the newspaper Shargh. "Instead they are intentionally trying not to use terms that were considered about values, as in the past. It seems that they have had no choice but to adapt themselves to an electorate that seems to have a new taste."

The campaign season officially ended Wednesday, giving the country a chance to reflect before voting on Friday in the Islamic republic's ninth presidential election.

According to polls and the country's interior minister, Abdolvahed Moussavi-Lari, it is unlikely that any of the candidates seeking the office will garner the more than 50 percent of the vote needed to declare victory, which would require a runoff between the top two finishers, the first in the history of the republic.

The runoff would be held a week later, the minister said.

The contest for president started on a troubled note, when religious hard-liners, who have near-complete control of the institutions of government, disqualified virtually all of the potential candidates from running, allowing only former government officials and clerics onto the ballot.

But Tehran teemed with political activity this week. There is no way to know if the tenor of the campaign will in any way mark a shift in the governance of the country, and there is no indication that it will dilute the absolute authority of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, but the campaign did spark some of the political fire and uncertainty that often define Iranian politics.

The streets have been both festive, in the way that campaigns can be, and tense as those who support conservative clerical rule often clash with those who want to see more of a separation between the clergy and the government.

But tension can also help promote voter turnout, and the government for the first time showed some optimism, with the interior minister predicting turnout of more than 50 percent. That would be better than face-saving, though still far below the numbers that poured out to give Khatami his mandates for change.

"If there is a 99 percent chance that by voting, nothing changes and a 1 percent chance we can change things, then we should vote," said Ashkan Avazeh Talab, 18, as he distributed campaign literature in central Tehran on Wednesday for a reform candidate, Mostafa Moin, a physician and former minister of education.

The day was hot and the sun was high over the streets, which were choked with traffic as Mahbod Naderi, 22, and five of his friends stood in a storefront in the city center discussing politics. Until two days ago, they said, they had planned to boycott the polls as a show of defiance but have since decided to vote because they have been inspired.

There are still many calling for a boycott, but the mood of the city has shifted in recent days, many people said.

"Open-minded people didn't want to vote," Naderi said. "Now if they vote they at least show who they want to win."