On 22 May AFP reported that security was beefed up across Iran ahead of Friday's presidential election as voters prepared to cast their ballots in a showdown between moderate and conservative factions in the Islamic government. The New York Times on 23 May reported that a soft-spoken cleric whom many Iranians had not even heard of until last week has sent this country into an electoral frenzy and transformed what should have been an essentially meaningless presidential election into a major test for the ruling mullahs. The cleric, Mohammed Khatami, has suddenly emerged as the candidate of millions of Iranians who are impatient for political change but who until now had no vehicle to express their discontent. Reuters on 22 May reported that the all-male contenders in Friday's Iranian presidential election have caught on to the fact that the female vote could just swing the polls their way. With analysts suggesting a tight race between former culture minister Mohammad Khatami and Parliamentary Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, womens' votes could be critical.
Schoolboys work busy intersections, thrusting campaign literature through open car windows.
From all appearances, the Iranian election scheduled for Friday might be a race for student-body president. Iran's voting age is 15, creating one of the youngest electorates in the world and giving the race for a new president a sprightly, youthful flavor. Voters here go to the polls today and tomorrow in a referendum on Slovak membership in NATO and on direct elections of Slovak President. Associated Press on 22 May reported that the prime minister indicated Thursday that he would ignore a high court ruling affecting how presidents are elected, creating a political crisis on the eve of a crucial referendum. Citing Polish TV, the BBC on 21 May reported that voters here go to the polls on Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution designed to underpin the democratic and free market changes introduced after 1989.