Voting in Iran's presidential
election has ended after an extension of four hours across the country and five
hours in the capital Tehran because more people than expected appeared to have
cast their vote.
The election, in which voters have a choice
of six candidates, is the first for a head of government since a disputed 2009
ballot touched off months of political unrest in the Islamic Republic.
Earlier,
Iranian voters appeared to heed
calls to cast ballots in a presidential election that has suddenly
become a showdown across Iran's political divide: Hard-liners looking to cement
their control and re-energized reformists backing the lone moderate left in the
race.
Long lines, including ones for
women, snaked outside some voting stations in Tehran and elsewhere.
The enthusiasm suggests an
election, which was once viewed as a pre-engineered victory for Iran's ruling
establishment, has become a chance for reform-minded voters to re-exert their
voices after years of withering crackdowns.
"To be honest, I'm taking
part in the elections just for one specific reason. I want to vote for Mr
(Hasan) Rowhani because I don't want Mr (Saeed) Jalili to win," said one
woman who was voting at the Hosseinieh Ershad religious institute.
There is no clear front-runner
among the six candidates trying to succeed the combative President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, whose eight-year era is coming to an end because of rules blocking
a run for a third consecutive term.
But influential figures on all
sides have appealed for a strong turnout, indicating both the worries and hopes
across an election that has been transformed in recent days.
Iran's loose coalition of
liberals, reformists and opposition activists - battered and fragmented by
relentless pressures - have found last-minute inspiration in former nuclear
negotiator Hasan Rowhani, the only relative moderate left in the race.
A victory by Rowhani would be
seen as a small setback for Iran's Islamic establishment, but not the type of
overwhelming challenge posed four years ago by the reformist Green Movement.
It was brutally crushed after
mass protests claiming Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election was the result of
systematic fraud in the vote counting.
At Friday prayers in Tehran,
Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani, a conservative cleric, told worshippers that
"all people must come to the ballot box so the world can see the power of
the Islamic system."
And hardline views could be heard
at polling booths nearby.
"With every ballot we drop,
we make sure that the political epic stated by the Supreme Leader is realized
and, secondly, with the fingers we put on the ballot paper, we trample the
enemy under our fingers," said one voter.
Iran's election overseers allowed
eight candidates on the ballot out of more than 680 registered.
Two candidates later dropped out
in bids to consolidate votes with rivals.
Journalists were under
wide-ranging restrictions limiting movement around the country, and Iran does
not permit outside election observers.
If no candidate wins an outright
majority, a runoff pitting the two top finishers would take place on June 21,
so even a strong showing by Rowhani in Friday's voting could face another test.
Results are expected early on
Saturday.
AP/REUTERS