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Ahmedinejad's opponents take lead in local elections

TEHRAN: Opponents of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took an early lead in key races in Iran's local elections, according to partial results announced by the Interior Ministry on Monday.

Final results from all municipal districts outside the capital, and partial results from the bellwether city of Tehran, showed the winners were mostly moderate conservatives opposed to the hardline President, rather than reformists.

If the trend holds, the final results will be an embarrassment to Mr. Ahmadinejad, whose anti-Israeli rhetoric and unyielding position on Iran's nuclear programme have provoked condemnation in the West and moves toward sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.

Reformists were quick to cry victory. The incomplete results announced by the Interior Ministry suggested that Mr. Ahmadinejad's allies had largely failed to win control of local councils across Iran.

In the key race for Tehran, the largest city, candidates supporting Mayor Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, a moderate opposed to the President, had taken the lead.

The Interior Ministry said only about 500,000 votes had been counted so far in Tehran. In the southern historical city of Shiraz, as well as in the provincial capitals of Rasht in the north and Bandar Abbas in the south, not one pro-Ahmadinejad candidate won a seat on the city council. — AP

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