Is there really no thread on the Iran Elections?

Posted by Random at 11:57am Jun 14 '09
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So, if you haven't heard, Ahmadinejad won the recent Iran elections. At word of this, riots starting occurring left and right. There are statements that there is going to be a revolution in Iran. I've mostly been getting my news on the subject from here (opens in new tab). Apparently, the election results were skewed drastically. A bare win by Ahmadinejad would have hidden the fraud. A bare win by Mousavi (a mainstream candidate thought to be sure of a win) would have hidden the fraud.

A reader on the matter wrote:

I talked to my brother who is in Tehran a couple of hours ago. YouTube is apparently down (filtered). The satellite TV and international radio stations (SW) are also jammed. But apparently a VOA satellite TV station has started to broadcast on a new frequency and so they have access to that. They had also lost the cell-phone service. (The phone system is operated by the Ministry of Technology and Communications; so it is state run.) It really is feeling like a coup.

The reason for the alleged landslide victory tampering is that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was informed of the possible win by Mousavi. These two had a feud 30 years ago and other world leaders were so confident of an Ahmadinejad win that they couldn't even fathom such a strong showing of support for Mousavi.

When Ahmadinejad was asked, "What is the situation with your challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi and will you guarantee his safety? And why have opposition reform individuals, officials, been arrested?" Ahmadinejad responded with quite an insane quote even though the world knew rioting all over Tehran and other parts of Iraq were taking place:

The situation in the country is in a very good condition. Iran is the most stable country in the world, and there's the rule of law in this country, and all the people are equal before the law. And the presidential election has witnessed people's massive turnout. As I said, even in a soccer match, people may become excited and that may lead to a confrontation between them and the police force. This is something natural. A person coming out of a stadium may violate the traffic regulations. He wil be fined by the police no matter who he is, an ordinary person or even a minister.

Within two hours of the polls closing and contrary to prior practice/electoral rules, the Interior Ministry already announced a landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Basically, the situation is very chaotic over there right now. Many supporters of non-Ahmadinejad candidates say that a coup d'état is taking place. Ahmadinejad apparently won in other candidates' hometowns and every major city except Tehran.

Here is one account from some citizens:

"Here is my country," a young woman said to me [Roger Cohen of the NYTimes], voice breaking. "This is a coup. I could have worked in Europe but I came back for my people." And she, too, sobbed.

"Don't cry, be brave," a man admonished her.

He was from the Interior Ministry. He showed his ID card. He said he'd worked there 30 years. He said he hadn't been allowed in; nor had most other employees. He said the votes never got counted. He said numbers just got affixed to each candidate.

He said he'd demanded of the police why "victory" required such oppression. He said he’d fought in the 1980-88 Iraq war, his brother was a martyr, and now his youth seemed wasted and the nation’s sacrifice in vain.

Quoting Ferdowsi, the epic poet, he said, "If there is no Iran, let me be not."

And lastly, here are the unofficial votes tallied by Iranian journalists under lockdown:

Unofficial news - reports leaked results from Interior Ministry:
Eligible voters: 49,322,412
Votes cast: 42,026,078
Spoilt votes: 38,716
Mir Hossein Mousavi: 19,075,623
Mehdi Karoubi: 13,387,104
Mahmoud Ahmadi-nejad (incumbent): 5,698,417
Mohsen Rezaei (conservative candidate): 3,754,218

What do you guys think? Is this the eve of an Iranian revolution?
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