TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's reformists are hoping a high turnout in the upcoming presidential election would help them oust hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who they say pushed the country deeper into international isolation and economic trouble.
The outcome of the June 12 vote may decide the direction Iran will take, both in the offer of dialogue from the Obama administration and in the confrontation with the West over its nuclear activities.
Iranian reformists, who seek better relations with the West and easing of social and political restrictions at home, have criticized Amadinejad for focusing too much on dueling with the U.S. and Israel, rather then dealing with the faltering economy.
Campaigning officially kicked off Friday, with only 20 days left to entice the 46.2 million eligible Iranian voters to the polls. Reformists' posters across Tehran warn that a low turnout could bring the hardline president another term in office.
Ahmadinejad's posters, meanwhile, boast of a nuclear Iran and invoke his 2005 campaign slogan, "We can" — a reference to the nuclear technology which the West fears masks a weapons program. At a rally in Tehran, Ahmadinejad on Friday compared his enemies to dogs.
"If you retreat, they attack; if you attack, they retreat," he said.
Ahmadinejad claims his government's decision to stand up to the West and enrich uranium turned Iran into a regional superpower and deterred a U.S. attack on Iran after its wars in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq.
The reformists in the race are Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. Conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaei is not seen as a serious challenger but someone who could siphon conservative votes away from Ahmadinejad and thereby boost the reformists' chances.
Karroubi, who has said he wouldn't mind meeting President Barack Obama if it would serve Iran's national interests, urged supporters at a rally Friday to show up at the polls.
"Staying away from the elections doesn't help ... If people vote in large numbers, the situation will change," he said.
His campaign manager, Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, said a high turnout can definitely unseat Ahmadinejad.
"If more than 32 million votes are cast, the possibility that Ahmadinjad will not win is over 65 percent," he said. "But if 27 million people or less vote, the likelihood of a change is less than 35 percent."
The math is based on the thinking that hard-liners traditionally have the backing of between 12 to 15 million Iranians. Any turnout over 30 million could work in favor of the reformists.
A high turnout helped a landslide victory for former reformist president Mohammad Khatami in the 1997 and 2001 elections. But in 2005, reformists lost mainly because many of their young, potential supporters abstained.
Reformists complain that state media have done little to promote the election and they accuse the government of supporting voter apathy.
Mousavi supporters also took to the streets Friday, putting up posters and handing out election pamphlets. Young men with green ribbons tied around their wrists and young women in green headscarves asked passers-by to vote for "change."
Mousavi, believed to be the leading of the two reformist challengers, has vowed to "restore the country's dignity." One of his campaign leaders, Mahdi Rahmanian, said a "high turnout would make Mousavi a definite winner."
His supporters chanted: "Green change for Iran" — a reference to Mousavi's picking green as his campaign color, a symbol of Islam and progress in Iran. Karroubi's camp has picked purple for his campaign with the slogan: "Together for change, only for Iran."
At scattered rallies Friday, supporters of Rezaei, the former head of the Revolutionary Guards, a powerful paramilitary force, said he would "heal" Iran's economic woes.
The outcome of the June 12 vote may decide the direction Iran will take, both in the offer of dialogue from the Obama administration and in the confrontation with the West over its nuclear activities.
Iranian reformists, who seek better relations with the West and easing of social and political restrictions at home, have criticized Amadinejad for focusing too much on dueling with the U.S. and Israel, rather then dealing with the faltering economy.
Campaigning officially kicked off Friday, with only 20 days left to entice the 46.2 million eligible Iranian voters to the polls. Reformists' posters across Tehran warn that a low turnout could bring the hardline president another term in office.
Ahmadinejad's posters, meanwhile, boast of a nuclear Iran and invoke his 2005 campaign slogan, "We can" — a reference to the nuclear technology which the West fears masks a weapons program. At a rally in Tehran, Ahmadinejad on Friday compared his enemies to dogs.
"If you retreat, they attack; if you attack, they retreat," he said.
Ahmadinejad claims his government's decision to stand up to the West and enrich uranium turned Iran into a regional superpower and deterred a U.S. attack on Iran after its wars in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq.
The reformists in the race are Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. Conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaei is not seen as a serious challenger but someone who could siphon conservative votes away from Ahmadinejad and thereby boost the reformists' chances.
Karroubi, who has said he wouldn't mind meeting President Barack Obama if it would serve Iran's national interests, urged supporters at a rally Friday to show up at the polls.
"Staying away from the elections doesn't help ... If people vote in large numbers, the situation will change," he said.
His campaign manager, Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, said a high turnout can definitely unseat Ahmadinejad.
"If more than 32 million votes are cast, the possibility that Ahmadinjad will not win is over 65 percent," he said. "But if 27 million people or less vote, the likelihood of a change is less than 35 percent."
The math is based on the thinking that hard-liners traditionally have the backing of between 12 to 15 million Iranians. Any turnout over 30 million could work in favor of the reformists.
A high turnout helped a landslide victory for former reformist president Mohammad Khatami in the 1997 and 2001 elections. But in 2005, reformists lost mainly because many of their young, potential supporters abstained.
Reformists complain that state media have done little to promote the election and they accuse the government of supporting voter apathy.
Mousavi supporters also took to the streets Friday, putting up posters and handing out election pamphlets. Young men with green ribbons tied around their wrists and young women in green headscarves asked passers-by to vote for "change."
Mousavi, believed to be the leading of the two reformist challengers, has vowed to "restore the country's dignity." One of his campaign leaders, Mahdi Rahmanian, said a "high turnout would make Mousavi a definite winner."
His supporters chanted: "Green change for Iran" — a reference to Mousavi's picking green as his campaign color, a symbol of Islam and progress in Iran. Karroubi's camp has picked purple for his campaign with the slogan: "Together for change, only for Iran."
At scattered rallies Friday, supporters of Rezaei, the former head of the Revolutionary Guards, a powerful paramilitary force, said he would "heal" Iran's economic woes.
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