State media exhort Iran to vote

By Sebastian Usher
BBC world media correspondent

The media see the poll as a display of support for the Islamic regime

The state media in Iran are giving blanket coverage to the second round of the presidential election as they did for the first round a week ago.

Once again, the main message of the coverage is that voters should turn out in high numbers to counter international criticism that the election is seen as pointless by many Iranians - particularly the young.

The media are also portraying the election as a display of support for the Islamic Republic itself rather than for either candidate and his political programme.

Just as it did with the first round last week, state TV in Iran has shown pictures of eager voters to the strains of hotel lobby music.

A semblance of spontaneity has been given by the occasional live interview with voters, but their views have been almost always identical - saying it was a social and religious duty for them to vote.

Iranian 'loyalty'

In a Friday sermon broadcast in full on Iranian radio, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the hardline conservative head of the influential Guardian Council, said the world had realised that Iranians were loyal to the Islamic system and would not be misled by enemies.

Iranians should come out in full force, for the run-off, on Friday Majid R, Tehran Iranian elections: Your views Election in pictures

Since the first round, the media have devoted more time to calls for a high turnout to snub the US, than to the candidates themselves.

A statement by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was repeatedly shown in which he said that the first round showed that Iranians "gave an answer to Bush's stupid call for them not to participate in the elections".

This was underlined by interviews with members of the public in which they said things like "George Bush is nobody" and " the first round was a good lesson for Bush".