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Yes we can: Ahmadinejad steals Obama's slogan while rival fields his own Michelle in Iranian election
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1192316/Yes-Ahmadinejad-steals-Obamas-slogan-rival-fields-Michelle-Iranian-election.html
By Liz Hazelton    Last updated at 6:45 PM on 11th June 2009

Green revolution: A supporter of Mirhossein Mousavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nearest rival, flashes a peace sign at a massive rally

Attack: Mousavi's wife Zahra Rahnavard (left) attacked President Ahmadinejad (right) for questioning her academic qualifications. She has been compared with Michelle Obama

Tehran has been filled with a sea of Mousavi's campaign colour green: (Above) A supporter waves a flag in front of the Freedom Monument

Women's vote: Mousavi's backing for greater equality has drawn huge support

Support for Ahmadinejad is still strong: Some have fashioned hats bearing his picture (above) while thousands have attended his rallies (below)


Reformers: Presidential candidates Mehdi Karoubi (left) and Mirhossein Mousavi (right) both favour more relaxed policies

Green brigade: Mousavi's supporters have brought their children to his rallies





[size=1.2em]Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces a fierce fight to hang on to the Iranian presidency as the country prepares to go to the polls tomorrow.

[size=1.2em]In a bid to secure a second term, the hardline leader has even appropriated Barack Obama's slogan 'Yes we can' to see off competition from main rival Mirhossein Mousavi, who has been gaining ground.

[size=1.2em]The use of the phrase, the most potent political statement of recent years, should perhaps not come as a shock even if it originates from the land Iran's one-time leader dubbed The Great Satan.
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[size=1.2em]What is surprising is the very real feeling on the febrile streets of Tehran that the president, long viewed as a dangerous extremist by the West, is finally in danger of being toppled by the ballot box.
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[size=1.2em]There was little initial enthusiasm for the election among the 70million Iranians who vote tomorrow.

[size=1.2em]But as the race to be president wore on - and interest grew - the contest developed more bizarre parallels with the American political landscape than many would like to admit.

[size=1.2em]Its mass rallies, rabble-rousing speeches and, not least, the emergence of a woman dubbed Iran's Michelle Obama have something of the same grandeur and spectacle.
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[size=1.2em]Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Ahmadinejad's main opponent Mirhossein Mousavi, has already become an unlikely figurehead for his supporters.

[size=1.2em]Mousavi and cleric Mehdi Karoubi are both reformists who favour change in a country renown for its religious conservatism.
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[size=1.2em]Their message - that it is time for change - has been particularly welcomed by millions of young people, who make up a heavy section of the population.
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[size=1.2em]As campaigning drew to a close before tomorrow's vote, hundreds of thousands once more gathered at epic political rallies in Tehran.
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[size=1.2em]Ahmadinejad, who is seeking a second four-year term as president, used his final address to launch a vitriolic attack on his opponents, including Mousavi who has closing in on him in the polls.
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[size=1.2em]He accused them of using smear tactics and claimed he was the victim of Nazi-style propaganda
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[size=1.2em]'Such insults and accusations against the government are a return to Hitler's methods, to repeat lies and accusations until everyone believes those lies,' he told a massive crowd of flag-waving supporters.

[size=1.2em]It was an apparent reference to Ahmadinejad's repeated claims that Mousavi has exaggerated Iran's economic problems to discredit the government.

[size=1.2em]References to Nazi-like tendencies among his rivals, however, would seem odd from a man who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust.
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[size=1.2em][size=1.2em]Elsewhere in the capital, Mousavi's supporters rushed through the streets, creating an unusually festive atmosphere.

[size=1.2em]Many were dressed in green, the official colour of the campaign and brandished pictures of their candidate. Some had his portrait daubed on their cheeks.

[size=1.2em]If Ahmadinejad has acquired an Obama slogan, the pro-reform Mousavi has an equally powerful weapon in his political arsenal.

[size=1.2em]His outspoken wife Zahra Rahnavard, an academic, artist and grandmother, has been compared to Michelle Obama in a Muslim country where women usually take a backseat.
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[size=1.2em]The 64-year-old has addressed rally after rally, and despite not running for office herself, has attracted a huge following.
[size=1.2em]'Why are there no women presidential candidates or cabinet ministers?', Dr Rahnavard asked at one gathering.

[size=1.2em]'Why are housewives not covered by insurance? Getting rid of discrimination and demanding equal rights is the number one priority for women in Iran.'

[size=1.2em]Dr Rahnavard, who was dismissed as dean of Tehran's Al-Zahra University three years ago, also demanded an apology off Ahmadinejad, who questioned her academic qualifications in a televised debate with her husband.

[size=1.2em]Such a personal attack on the wife of a candidate appears to have played very badly with voters.

[size=1.2em]There is an element of hypocrisy in [size=1.2em]Ahmadinejad's claims. His interior minister Ali Kordan was impeached for deception after confessing to holding a forged law degree from the University of Oxford.
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[size=1.2em]The election is seen as the most significant for a decade as many people in Iran - a nation with a very young population - appear to have turned their back on the hardline Ahmadinejad.

[size=1.2em]Instead, there is appetite for reform, a move welcomed by Western governments including the U.S. which has been entrenched in a cold war with the current president, notably over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
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[size=1.2em]The new mood has been reflected in the easing of some restrictions, including harsh enforcement of dress code including the hijab by the morality police

[size=1.2em]In a development seen as particularly significant for pro-reform candidates, women's voices have been much more prominent than in recent years.

[size=1.2em]Many see Ahmadinejad as a hardliner who backs laws which make women second-class citizens in divorce, inheritance, child custody, legal matters and other aspects of life

[size=1.2em]The two pro-reform candidates -- Mousavi and Karoubi -- say they would seek to enhance the role of women in the conservative Islamic state if they were elected president.

[size=1.2em]'Whoever comes to power has to respond to the demands of the women's rights movement,' rights campaigner Sussan Tahmasebi said. 'We are no longer invisible.

[size=1.2em]'(Ahmadinejad) has attempted to push women back into the private sphere and promote them as mothers and wives.'

[size=1.2em]Despite a desire for change, the powerful  Revolutionary Guard, one of the pillars of the  Islamic establishment, warned the authorities would crush any attempt at a popular revolt.

[size=1.2em]Yadollah Javani, the Guards' political chief drew parallels between Mousavi's campaign, which goes under a green banner, and the 'velvet revolution' that led to the 1989 ousting of the communist government in then-Czechoslovakia.

[size=1.2em]'There are many indications that some extremist (reformist) groups, have designed a colorful revolution ... using a specific color for the first time in an election,' he said in a statement.
[size=1.2em]'Attempt for velvet revolution will be nipped in the bud.'

[size=1.2em]Javani also accused the reformists of planning to claim vote rigging and provoke street violence if Mousavi loses.

[size=1.2em]Ahmadinejad is believed to have wide support in the Revolutionary Guard and among Iran's ruling clerics, though neither have given public endorsements in the presidential race.

[size=1.2em]Even if he is voted out, it appears unlikely he will surrender power willingly.