Word: mousavi
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...remember compare the atmosphere on Tehran's streets ahead of Friday's election to the heady days of Iran's revolution 30 years ago. For a week now, the capital's main arteries have been clogged by tens of thousands of supporters of opposition presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, often in cars and on motorbikes, waving large green banners, stretching their torsos out the windows to dance to blaring techno beats composed for the candidate, urging a vote for the man best placed to unseat President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...
...streets has taken many by surprise, given the years of apathy and disillusionment that followed the failure of the reform movement led by former President Mohammed Khatami. Despite widespread dissatisfaction with Ahmadinejad's performance in office, a little more than a week ago, opinion polls showed Ahmadinejad ahead of Mousavi. And opposition supporters were depressed by what at first appeared to be Ahmadinejad's victory in the country's first-ever TV debates, as he accused both of his reformist rivals, Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, of being part of a corrupt political establishment...
...Following his pummeling of opposition candidates in the debates, the President's supporters roamed the streets of Tehran, flush with confidence, brandishing the Iranian flag. But instead of throwing in the towel, Ahmadinejad's challengers went on the offensive. Mousavi, Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai, a conservative challenger, turned their debates with one another into condemnations of Ahmadinejad...
...dealing with an astonishing phenomenon here," said Mousavi in one debate. "We're dealing with someone who looks you in the eyes and says white is black ... He has turned the country into a place full of lies and hypocrisy...
...speeches, Mousavi has talked of prohibiting the government from interfering in people's private lives and allowing for people to participate in the public sphere. Ahmadinejad's government has clamped down on activity by nongovernmental organizations, wary of the $75 million former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice allotted for "democracy promotion" in Iran...