RI hails Iran's 'democratic' election

RI hails Iran's 'democratic' election

JAKARTA: Indonesia on Saturday praised Iran for its "democratic" presidential election but stopped short of commenting on the victory of hardline former Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad.

"The people of Iran deserve to be congratulated for the tremendous show of support for a democratic electoral process," foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told AFP.

"As governance beckons, we are confident that we can continue to rely on Iran as a force for peace, stability and moderation in the region and beyond," he said.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country but an overwhelming majority of its people follow the Sunni branch of Islam while Iran is Shiite.

Some observers see the election of Ahmadinejad, a self- proclaimed fundamentalist seeking a return to the moral "purity" of the early years of the Islamic revolution, could set the Islamic republic on a collision course with the West. -- AFP