By FARNAZ FASSIHI
TEHRAN -- The campaign leading up to Iran's presidential election Friday has turned the country on its head in terms of political debate and public discourse. It also has offered a glimpse of what a freer Iran might look like.
In a country where the regime never brings its infighting into public view, candidates have turned debates into spectacles.
Supporters of candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi held pictures of him during a rally at a stadium in southern Tehran June 8.
Candidates from across the political spectrum are ripping one another apart, targeting wives and personal wealth during heated debates aired live on state-run television and in news articles published in newspapers and on Web sites. Many Iranian voters -- also from across the spectrum -- are mesmerized and invigorated by the sparring.
Young men and women have been dressing in more relaxed garb -- tight jeans on the men and women still in scarves but not as tightly wrapped as before. They wave campaign posters and dance in the streets from midnight until dawn. Women-rights activists, typically persecuted, distribute pamphlets that list their demands for the new president.
Iranians will go to the polls Friday to elect a president to a four-year term. Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing three rivals: conservative Mohsen Rezaie and reformists Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
Mr. Mousavi, a former prime minister, is steadily gaining momentum, tapping into the public's frustration. Polls show him leading in urban areas and among young, middle-class and upper-class voters. Mr. Ahmadinejad is popular with rural voters and the poor. The two could be headed toward a runoff.
Iran's policies on issues such as its nuclear standoff with the West and relations with the U.S. aren't likely to change no matter the election outcome -- but its path forward will. Analysts say the unprecedented election spectacle underscores Iran's complexity: Despite decades of strict rule and isolation, and four years of an ultraconservative government, a grass-roots desire for democracy thrives.
"This year's election campaign proved that Iran's society is way ahead of its government" said Hamid Reza Jalaeepoour, a sociologist at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran.
In downtown traffic in Tehran on Sunday, a supporter of Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at right, confronts a supporter of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, at left, ahead of Friday's election.
"Ahmadi bye-bye, Ahmadi bye-bye," chants one youth waving to a group of bearded young men on motor bikes who hold Mr. Ahmadinejad's pictures and wave the flag.
They shout back, "Ahmadinejad we love you."
"We are tired of insecurity and tension," said Sheyda Javaheri, 25-year-old who turned up for Mr. Mousavi's rally in the city of Karaj, waving green flags and posters. "Like the American people, we want change."
One teacher drives around Tehran at 2 a.m. honking his horn for Mr. Ahmadinejad. He and his wife, also a teacher, got 30% raises last year.
"He looks after the poor and fights corrupt officials," the husband said. "What more can we want?"
Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com
Source: Wall Street Journal
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