(18 Jun 2005) SHOTLIST

PLEASE NOTE: Karroubi was speaking before the final result was announced

1. Set up Karroubi
2. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mahdi Karroubi, presidential candidate:
"One special group had total control of the election, which means the Guardian Council, and some Revolutionary Guards and Mobilised Forces (Basidge) were controlling the elections. Enjoying support of some medias and newspapers, they are exerting their influence. This election was not normal at all.''
3. Cutaway reporter
4. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mahdi Karroubi, presidential candidate:
"At the beginning of the campaign they wanted to make Qalibaf first. I don't know why but they changed the direction and in the last days before the election they started to support Ahmedinejad. There are many documents showing movements from Revolutionary Guards and Mobilised Forces who made contributions to the elections and spent a lot to win it."
5. Cutaway
6. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mahdi Karroubi, presidential candidate:
"This is right that we have not a real government in Iran. What we have
is a useless and inefficient government."

STORYLINE

Iran will hold the first runoff presidential election in its history, after voters failed to give any candidate an outright majority and hard-liners made an unexpectedly strong showing.

The final vote will be held between political veteran Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and Tehran's hard-line mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But the former speaker of Iran's parliament told APTN on Saturday that the country's presidential election was "not normal at all".

Mahdi Karroubi is a close a close ally of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who heads the non-elected theocracy that can overrule the president or parliament.

Karroubi, who stood as a candidate, was popular in rural areas, winning 17.4 percent of the vote.

He accused Revolutionary Guards and their civilian vigilante wings of intimidating voters and appealed for an investigation.

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatist considered the favourite throughout the campaign, held the lead as nearly all votes were counted and was set to enter the second round, planned for next Friday.

Rafsanjani had nearly 21 percent of the votes.

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad came second in the vote, polling 19.48 percent securing his runoff place.

Friday's voting drew a large turnout in a rejection of a youth-led boycott - with lines of voters forcing polling stations into four hours overtime.

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