Support for Moderate a Challenge to Ir...
HOME PAGE TODAYS PAPER VIDEO MOST POPULAR TIMES TOPICS
flitAc wflork i1nc5 Middle East
Get Home Delivery Log In Register Now
Search All NYTimes.com I I
__________ ________________ I tNGSDIRECT I
- - I
WORLD U.S. N.Y. / REGION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEALTH SPORTS OPINION ARTS STYLE TRAYEL JOBS REAL ESTATE AUTOS
AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA PACIFIC EUROPE MIDDLE EAST
TABRIZ, Iran — The strongest challenger to President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad attracted an unusually large and exuberant crowd of
supporters on Monday during a campaign speech in this northwest
city near the candidate's birthplace, with only a few weeks before
national elections that the incumbent stands a serious chance of
losing.
Related
Times Topics: Iran
TURKEY , AZERMIJAN
Khamerie i .
Tabr lz
SYRIA
Tehran
IRAQ
SAUDIARABIA %
The New York Times
An estirrated 3D,DDD people attended
the rally in Tabriz.
TW1TTER
RECOMMEND
SIGN IN TOE-
MAIL
PRINT
REPRINTS
SHARE
srcIcLa SlifflIfli
SL INDANCE
FILM F(STIVAI.
The crowd for the challenger, Mir
Hussein Moussavi , was extraordinary
not only for its size — an estimated
30,000 — but also because the ______________
supporters were not paid, given free
food, bused in or ordered by their workplaces to attend, a
tactic sometimes used by Mr. Ahmadinejad's campaign.
Many traveled here in private cars and learned about the
rally despite new government restrictions on Facebook , the
social networking site, which Mr. Moussavi's campaign had
been using to spread word of his candidacy among the
country's predominantly young electorate. The supporters
gave a rousing welcome to Mr. Moussavi, who was born in
Khameneh, a small town in the Azerbaijan area of Iran.
“Azerbaijan is my home; Moussavi is my life!” they
Tech
U
Update
Sign up for Tech Update: an afternoon e-rTsiI newsletter
with the latest tech news spanning Ihe Web.
MOST POPULAR
Advertra on NYTimaa.com
E-MAILED BL000ED SEARCHED VIEWED
1. But Will It Make You Happy?
2. Spinal-fluid Test Is Found to Predict Alzheimer's
3. Fed-Up Flight Attendant Makes Sliding Exit
4. PaulKrugmsn:America Goes Dark
5. Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeov er
6. Bucks: How to Find Cheaper College Textbooks
7. Inexperienced Companies Chase U.S. School Funds
8. A Masterpiece of Nature? Yuck!
9. Op-Ed Contributor: Congregations Gone Wild
10. First Signs of Puberty Seen in Younger Girls
Go to complete List s
8/10/2010
Support for Moderate a Challenge to Iran's Leader
More Articles in World s
ST
I
courant.com
“A better choice for the
challenges ahead...”
Newsha Tavakolin lPolaris, for ,, New York Times
Supporters welcorred Mir Hussein Moussavi, a challenger to President Mahnoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday in Tabriz, Iran.
Dy NAZILA FATHI
Published: May 25, 20D9 FACEEOOK
nytimes.com/2009/05/26/. . ./26iran .ht...
1/3
8/10/2010 Support for Moderate a Challenge to Ir...
chanted to him in their native dialect, Turkish Azeri.
Mr. Moussavi's appearance here was the first stop of a two-day tour of northwestern Iran,
part of his effort to attract the votes of 15 million Turkish speakers around the country,
nearly one-third of eligible voters, before the June 12 vote.
“People of Tabriz and Azerbaijan have changed the fate of this country several times,” Mr.
Moussavi said, referring to several historic revolts against the central government in the
region.
“They have always resisted dictatorship.” ___________
Mr. Moussavi, a former prime minister whose moderate views have won him support
from other reformers in Iran including former President Mohammad Khatami , has _____
positioned himself as the strongest challenger to Mr. Ahmadinejad, a religious
conservative whose backing by the Islamic authorities here has weakened and who is now
widely criticized for I ran's economic malaise.
If elected, Mr. Moussavi told supporters here, he would enforee the constitutional law that
allows the ethnic languages of different regions to be taught at sehools, something Mr.
Ahmadinejad has not done. Mr. Moussavi told the voters, “Your vote is crucial in the
elections.”
Ms. Rahnavard, a former dean of a women's university in Tehran and a seulptor, is also
seen on Mr. Moussavi's posters holding hands with him, a somewhat daring image in a
country where public mingling of the sexes is repressed under strict Islamic socinl
etiquette.
Mr. Moussavi is considered the most serious threat to Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election
among the three challengers. The other two, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate, and
Mohsen Rezai, a former leader of the Revolutionary Guards , have lagged in voter opinion
polls.
Mr. Abmadinejad stifi has considerable support among Turkish speakers, especially in poor
rural villages. Many low-income Iranians voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad four years ago
because of his pledges to raise their standards of living.
Hassan Nazari, 75, a supporter of Mr. Ahmadinejad in Tabriz, said Monday that he would
vote for Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election because Mr. Nazari's salary had increased nearly
five times and the lives of people in rural areas had improved.
All three challengers to Mr. Ahmadinejad say his effort to help the poor is little more than
charity and vote buying. They have accused him of handing out loans and money instead
of investing in major development projects.
Newspapers in Tran reported that students protested in Tehran after Mr. Ahmadinejad's
government distributed 3,000 traveler's checks of $so each among the students last week.
Mr. Moussavi's supporters have been chanting “death to the government of potato,”
referring to Mr. Ahmadinejad's distribution of 400,000 tons of free potatoes around the
country.
A version of this article appeared in print on May 26, 2009, on page AS More Articles in World))
of the New York edition.
Times Reader 2.0: Daily delivery of The Times - straight to your computer. Subscribe for just $4.62 a week.
I . . rh t thi 7
Playlist: The Roots
ALSO IN Vl 0 a
An innocent abroad
Reinventing the car pedal
nytirnes. corn
ADVERTISEMENTS
Find your dream hone w th
The New York Times Real Btate
Follow The New York Times on
Twitter
The new issue of T is here
See the news in the neking. Watch
TinesCast, a daily news video.
VIDEO
il c Sfli' lJork iiimts
The Weelsader
His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, who has been at the forefront of his campaign, said in a
meeting with women that she favored monogamy — although polygamy is allowed under
the law — and more rights for women. She is the first candidate's wife to campaign since
the 1979 Tslamic Revolution.
Some Promise You the World. We Deliver.
Save 50% on honie delSery.
nytimes.com/2009/05/26/. . ./26iran .ht...
2/3
8/10/2010 Support for Moderate a Challenge to Ir..
Foods From Spain
Over 650 Delicious Items Est 1996. Catalog. By UPS.
Tienda.com
Cooking Recipes
Get Recipes, Menus, Cooking Secrets & More at KitchenDaily-Visit Now!
KitchenDaily.com
lnerg , Shareholders
If you Feel the Merger is Unfair, /A&ll Protect Your Financial Rights
wswi.Rigrodsl Long.com
Past Coverage
Iranian Candidate Taps Student Woes (May 31, 2009)
Big Crowd for Moderate Reflects Serious Challenge to Iran's Leader (May 26, 2009)
Iranian Presidential Candidate Calls Ahmadinejad an Extremist (April 7, 2009)
Related Searches
Moussavi, Mir Hussein Get E-Mail Alerts
Elections Get E-Mail Alerts
Voting and Voters Get E-Mail Alerts
Iran Get E-Mail Alerts
INSIDE NYTIMES.COM
u.s. ,) N.Y. / REGION OPINION MUSiC OPINION SCIENCE
Who Gets
Priority on the
Web?
In Room for Debate,
Lawrence Lessig and
others on whether the
government can
enforce ‘net neutrality.'
l-bme World U.S N.Y/Region Business Technology Science Health §p 2R jon Arts §!iJ Travel Jobs Real Etate Autorrobiles Backto Top
Copyright 2009 The New York Tines Company Privacy Fblicy Search Corrections RSS First Look ±12 Contact Lk Work for LAs Site Map
2012 in Mind, Parties Schools Given Grade on
Focus on Governorships How Graduates Do
Glimmerglass Recycles Its Op-Ed: BlackBerry Ban Butter Holds Secret to
Sets, Not Its Ideas Latest Biodiesel Fuel
nytimes.com/2009/05/26/. - j26iran .ht. - -
3/3
