Iran Holds Key Presidential Elections

Millions of voters across Iran are
casting their ballots in the
country's presidential elections.
Although all six candidates are seen
as conservatives, one of them, cleric
Hassan Rouhani, has been reaching
out to the reformists in recent days.
The BBC says the election will decide
a successor to outgoing leader
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His eight years in power have been
characterised by economic turmoil
and Western sanctions against Iran
over its controversial nuclear
programme.
Polls across Iran opened at 08:00
local time (03:30 GMT) and are due
to close at 18:00 (13:30 GMT). Some
50 million people are eligible to cast
their ballots.
The past week brought a surprising
change to what otherwise had
looked like being a predictable
election, the BBC reports.
Mr. Rouhani has been attracting
increasing attention, speaking
publicly about the need to re-engage
with the West.
He has also promised to free political
prisoners and called for greater
reform of the media.
The surge of support for him came
after Mohammad Reza Aref, the only
reformist candidate in the race,
announced on Tuesday that he was
withdrawing his candidature on the
advice of pro-reform ex-President
Mohammad Khatami.
Mr. Rouhani now has the
endorsement of two ex-presidents,
Mr. Khatami and Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, who was disqualified
from the race by the powerful
Guardian Council.