Social media abuzz as Iran heads to poll
The social networking websites which helped mobilise anti-regime protests in 2009 are buzzing again -- this time urging Iranians to be sure to vote on Friday when Iran elects a new president.
"I will vote," wrote Rahele, a pro-reform voter, on her Facebook page. "Even if there only exists a one percent chance that my vote will be counted, and even if I will have to choose between the worse and the worst, I will vote."
Friday's election is the first since 2009 when the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked massive anti-regime street protests after his opponents alleged widescale voting fraud.
The organisation of the demonstrations was aided through use of text messages and popular social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, the domain of tech-savvy pro-reform voters.
The protests and the pro-reform campaign they supported, the so-called Green Movement, were eventually crushed by the security forces, with dozens of people killed and many more imprisoned.
As part of the crackdown on the reform movement, the government blocked access for ordinary Iranian Internet users to social networking and tens of thousands of other websites. It also banned the use of software to bypass those restrictions.
The rout of the reformists and the placing under house arrest of their leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi -- who claimed Ahmadinejad had been fraudulently re-elected -- left pro-reform supporters disillusioned, with many vowing to never vote again.
But their hopes were rekindled a week ago when the sole reformist standing in this year's election, Mohammad Reza Aref, performed well in live televised debates -- the highlight of the subdued, short election campaign.
His showing resulted in a surge of support from many pro-reform Facebook members who managed to bypass the increasingly harsh regime-imposed restrictions to get online and engage in discussions, while urging everyone to vote.
Aref was this week asked by former president Mohammad Khatami to withdraw from the race in order to boost the chances of moderate Hassan Rowhani, a former nuclear negotiator, who opinion polls say has a better standing in the election against a host of conservatives close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Social media abuzz as Iran heads to poll