Election reveals fundamentalists' renewed strength in Iran

[deadparrot]

TEHRAN, Iran - A glimpse of presidential contender Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vision for Iran is captured in the fading red paint slapped onto the cool gray marble facade of northern Tehran's Art Cultural Center.

"Group prayer inside the gallery," the painted message informs passers-by, a reminder of the archconservative mayor's failed attempt 18 months ago to convert the city's cultural havens into outlets for Islamic fundamentalism during the holy month of Ramadan.

Ahmadinejad's surprise second-place finish last Friday - barely 2 percentage points behind front-runner Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70 - illustrates that he and other fundamentalists in Iran's conservative coalition have emerged from their pariah status of a few years ago to claim popular support.

When Ahmadinejad tried to convert the cultural center, Tehran residents, like most Iranians, believed in the prospect of political, social and economic reform heralded by President
Mohammad Khatami. They rejected Ahmadinejad's plan, when he was appointed mayor in 2003, to restore Iranian unity and pride by returning to the patriarchal system and strict Shiite Muslim tenets of the Islamic Republic's early days.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/20050622/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_iran_election_wa

More conservative religious fundamentalism run amok...