Campaigning in Iran?s tight presidential race ended, with cleric Rafsanjani leading a pack of seven but unlikely to secure enough support to avert an unprecedented run-off vote. The vote could determine the fate of Iran?s nuclear stand-off with the West and ties with arch-foe the United States, although whoever wins, real power in the country will still rest with conservative, anti-West religious authorities.

Hardline candidate Mohsen Rezaie pulled out on Wednesday after trailing near the bottom of polls. His move is likely to strengthen the remaining three hardline candidates, but they still lag behind Rafsanjani, who wants closer ties with the West. Rafsanjani, 70, looks unlikely to win the necessary 50 percent to avoid a run-off between the top two candidates, possibly on June 24.

His main rivals, opinion polls show, are conservative former police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and reformist Mostafa Moin, an education minister under outgoing President Mohammad Khatami. Such polls have not always been reliable in past elections. ?I came to campaign for Hashemi (Rafsanjani), to say that he has a heart of gold,? said 22-year-old student Mohsen Mahmoudi, his face plastered with campaign stickers as he joined thousands of other youths waving posters or handing out campaign cards.

But some young revellers said they had only come out onto the streets to enjoy a rare chance to party and mingle openly between the sexes. Several said they would not vote in a race where most of the more than 1,000 hopefuls who registered to run were barred by the hardline Guardian Council supervisory body. ?We don?t get any fun. We came here because tonight the police will not touch us. Anyone who votes accepts the Islamic Republic,? said Mehdi, a 23-year-old student, who added over the din of music blaring from passing cars that he would not vote.

Fun seekers, not voters

Candidates have sought to win over the young, a key constituency in the world?s fourth-largest oil exporter where half the population is under 25. Candidates have promised to create more jobs and allow more social freedoms. Supporters of Moin have complained of beatings by hardliners during more than two weeks of campaigning, prompting the president to call for action against those responsible.

?I ask you to identify those offenders and introduce them to the judiciary more seriously and more quickly,? Khatami said in a letter to the Interior and Intelligence Ministries, Iran?s student ISNA news agency reported. Reformist Khatami, who is not allowed to stand for a third four-year term, was elected by landslides in 1997 and 2001 with pledges to make a freer society, but his reforms were repeatedly blocked by hardliners who control the courts and supervisory bodies.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word in matters of state in Iran?s theocratic system, has called for a high turnout, saying it would make Iran ?immune to the enemies? plots?. Iran has 47 million voters and a minimum voting age of 15. ?The presidential election turnout will definitely be more than 50 percent,? said Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari. There is no minimum turnout needed to make the election valid.

Edmund BLAIR

TEHRAN

Voters waver in poor suburb

■ In south Tehran, several of those questioned backed Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative hopefuls credited with sprucing up the down-at-heel area."I support Ahmedinejad because of what he has done to the city. If you look at the city, you can see the changes," said 37-year-old trader Ali Salehi.The close race has galvanized many voters to pay attention. But many youths, a key constituency in Iran where half the population is under 25, have become disenchanted with the failure of politicians to deliver on promises of more and better jobs. Many struggle to get married for lack of cash.And even in religiously conservative south Tehran, some of the young voiced frustration with Iran's system of clerical rule. Whoever is elected president, the final say in matters of state lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.