Iran’s press covers the US presidential election
Published: Tuesday, November 04, 2008
17:00GMT—12:00PM/EST
PRESS – REVIEW – ELECTIONS
Washington, 4 November (IranVNC)—As voting began today in the U.S., the presidential elections figured prominently on the front pages of many of Iran’s main newspapers this morning.
Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, and his republican rival, John McCain, are competing to become the country’s 44th president.
The conservative Quds daily carried a panoramic picture of Iranian students participating in yesterday’s demonstrations marking the 29th anniversary of the take-over of the US embassy in Tehran, under the headline: “100 American historians: Bush is the worst president in American history.”
The article was quoting a New York Times editorial published on 1 November, written by Nicholas Kristof in support of Barack Obama. He cited what he called “an unscientific poll of 109 professional historians” which found that 61 percent of the surveyed historians rated Bush as the “worst” in the country’s history.
Quds also featured an article entitled, “The fragile democracy of the White House and the presidential elections,” in which the writer described American democracy as “fragile glass” which can be smashed to pieces with the “smallest grain of criticism.”
The election has become “an example of liberal fascism, despotism and the rule of only two parties,” the newspaper wrote, adding that the “Zionist lobbies” were behind both Democrats and Republicans.
The hard-line Kayhan newspaper argued along the same lines in a front-page story entitled: “The role of Zionist circles in the US presidential election.”
“In America, it is not exclusively the very powerful lobby, AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] that has extensive influence on the policies of the country,” the hard-line newspaper wrote about a list of 36 American Jews who played a part in the election.
Kayhan, referring to an article published in the Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper on 19 October, entitled “36 Jews who have shaped the 2008 US election,” added that the individuals listed had “strongly interfered” in the campaigns of both Republicans and Democrats.
The pro-reform Kargozaran newspaper referred to economic and political crises in the world and dubbed today “The day of electing the most burdened president,” in a front-page article.
Noting that current US president George W. Bush had inherited a “relatively calm” world from his predecessor, the newspaper wrote that the winner of today’s election will face difficulties with the financial crisis as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The front page of another pro-reform newspaper, the E’temaad daily, featured an electoral map of the U.S. below the headline: “The end of the lengthiest election campaign in the world.”
The article reported the latest developments in the campaigns of both candidates on the last day before the elections and commented on the differences between Obama and McCain.
“It is clear that the government of John McCain would be much more conservative than the government of the Democratic Barack Obama,” the newspaper wrote, without explicitly favoring either candidate.
Other newspapers focused on the technical aspects of the US elections.
The Sarmayeh daily, for instance, in an article entitled “The winner takes all the votes”, focused on an explanation of the Electoral College, the US system of voting in which each state is allotted a certain number of votes based on its population.
Sources: Quds Daily, New York Times, Kayhan Newspaper, Haaretz, Kargozaran Newspaper, E’temaad Newspaper, Sarmayeh Newspaper
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