Iran urges calm as voters go to the polls in first election since 2009 vote sparked protests

THE six contenders for Iran's next president have issued a joint appeal for calm as officials extended polling hours in the first election since outgoing President Mahmoud's Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election sparked mass protests.
 Polling stations remained open four hours longer than initially scheduled on Friday as officials reported a turnout almost as large, or bigger, than that for the controversial vote of four years ago.
Representatives of all six remaining hopefuls approved by the conservative-dominated body that vets candidates for public office urged their supporters to remain calm until the official results are known.
"We ask people not to pay attention to rumours of victory parades being organised and to avoid gathering before the official results" are announced by the interior ministry, their statement said.
Iranian media quoted the capital's top electoral official, Safar Ali Baratlou, as saying "turnout (in Tehran province) is higher than four years ago. It will certainly reach 70 per cent."
Officials in several other provinces reported turnout of at least 70 per cent.
In 2009, when Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election sparked months of mass protests that culminated in the detention of two of his challengers, turnout reached 85 per cent nationwide.
More than 50.5 million Iranians are eligible to vote for the man - no women candidates were allowed - to succeed Ahmadinejad, who is constitutionally barred from standing for a third term.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say in all of the most sensitive issues including nuclear policy and had called for a large turnout, voted early.
"Inshallah (God willing), the Iranian people will create a new political epic. I advise all people to vote," he said after voting.
Khamenei also attacked the United States for questioning the poll's legitimacy.
"The hell with you" who do not agree with how the election is run, Khamenei said on national television. "The Iranian people... will do what is in their interest."
Results are expected on Saturday, but if no candidate secures more than half of the votes for an outright victory, the top two will square off in a second-round run-off on June 21.
With the conservative camp divided, reformists seem confident of a good showing by moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani, who headed Iran's nuclear negotiating team under Ahmadinejad's reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami and has emerged as a frontrunner with a real chance of forcing a run-off, analysts say.
A pack of three heads the conservatives: former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Iran's current chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.
Both sides, reformist and conservative, urged a high turnout.