by Zhang Shengping, Chen Wendi

    TEHRAN, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of thousands of Iranian voters showed up at polling stations on Friday to vote for a new leader who can deliver change for their lives, while some showed apathy and stayed away from the polls.

    With Iranian Supreme Leader Seyed Ali Khamenei inaugurating voteat 9:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT), the ninth Iranian presidential election kicked off simultaneously in about 42,000 polling stations across the country.

    Millions of Iranians waited in long lines at the polling stations to cast ballots, braving a broiling weather with a temperature as high as 45 Celsius degrees.

    State television showed live pictures of voting process in the capital Tehran and other cities like Tabriz and Ahvaz, where Turks and Arabs predominate.

    At the Haseyniyeh-ye-Ershad polling station in the north of Tehran, Roghayeh Abassitar, a middle-aged housewife, told Xinhua that she just came to vote to show that the Iranians' fate is decided by themselves, not others.

    "We are opposing US President George W. Bush's remarks on our election, which are a lie," she said.

    On the eve of the polls, Bush blasted Iran's electoral process, saying in a statement that "power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy."

    Abassitar said she would vote for former Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because she thought he will do more to help the poor and support the middle class.

    "I also hope that Mr. Ahmadinejad will promote the status of women by creating more job opportunities for them," said the Abassitar.

    Maziar Mirhosseini, an advertisement consultant who had lived inCanada for five years and immigrated back to Tehran two years ago, said he supports former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

    "Rafsanjani is powerful, and he is able to solve many problems such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) entry," he said.

    Mirhosseini also sniffed at the propaganda by many opposition groups abroad to discourage people to vote.

    "I used to live abroad and I don't think the opposition members are good guys. They are very bad because they are isolated from Iran but want to dictate the Iranians."

    "The ways to help Iran can be found just in Iran," he affirmed.

    A shy university girl named Hoda Koleini said she was still hesitating whether to vote for former Higher Education Minister Mostafa Moin.

    "I like Moin for his plans to promote freedom, but I am afraid he will be powerless to carry out his policies, so I said 'maybe' Iwill vote for him," she said.

    At a comparatively small station in the Ghoba Mosque, voters waiting there said they came to vote just because they are Iraniansand they would make their own choice regardless of the comments of other countries.

    At 6:00 p.m. (13:30 GMT), it is reported that ballots in six stations in Tehran were used up before all voters finished their voting.

    "People who have not finished can only wait at the stations for extra ballots," state television said, adding such unexpected incidents also took place in cities like Kermanshah, Kerman and Mashhad as well as the Kish Free Trade Zone, an island in the Persian Gulf.

    The voting was originally scheduled to end at 7:00 p.m. (1430 GMT), but the Interior Ministry has announced to extend the voting time for the third time to 11:00 p.m. (1830 GMT) and all polling stations will keep open until the last voters casts their vote.

    There are some 46.7 million eligible voters in Iran, or all 15 years old and above, but it is estimated that less than 55 percent of them will show up.

    Many people indeed have decided not to vote because they don't believe a new president will find solutions to the country's tough problems.

    "I am not going to vote because no matter who succeeds Khatami, there will be no change," a university girl said on condition of anonymity.

    "My family members and my friends have all said that they will not vote," she stressed.

    Most of the indifferent voters have been disappointed at the outgoing President Mohammad Khatami, who failed to delivered on hispromise for more reforms.

    Iran is expected to choose a powerful politician to lead the country out of its tough problems including the nuclear deadlock, longtime hostility with the United States, a sluggish economy and high unemployment.

    Among the hopefuls, Rafsanjani has been the front-runner for months, but he is still not guaranteed to have an outright victory as his supporting rate has never reached 30 percent in recent polls.

    Under Iran's law, if nobody garners at least 50 percent of the votes, the top two vote-getters will have to go to a runoff held one week later. Enditem