Posted on 06/24/2005 8:50:45 PM PDT by pcottraux
TEHRAN, Iran — The hardline Tehran mayor steamrolled over one of Iran's best known statesmen to win the presidency Saturday in a landslide election victory that cements conservative control over nation's political leadership. The outcome capped a stunning upset by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (search), who many reformers fear will take Iran back to the restrictions imposed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Interior Ministry gave Ahmadinejad 61.8 percent of the vote over his relatively more moderate rival, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani (search), who had 35.7 percent. The ministry posted a notice declaring Ahmadinejad the winner of Friday's runoff. The figures were based on about 54 percent of the estimated 23 million votes cast, or nearly 49 percent of Iran's 47 million eligible voters. In last week's first round of the presidential election, the turnout was close to 63 percent. The victory gives conservatives control of Iran's two highest elected offices — the presidency and parliament and gives a freer hand to the non-elected theocracy, which holds the final word on all important policies.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Anyone surprised?
I can't help but wonder if there was a little voter intimidation behind this. I've heard the actual people of Iran are actually among the most "pro-American" middle easterners.
oh well, the damned thing will be settled once and for all...
Probably more than a little. Also probably falsified results where required. Unfortunate for those who want and deserve something better, but since those in control don't really believe in an actual democratic vote, votes probably aren't going to get them out of office.
Will be interesting to watch for more demonstrations now.....
"The only problem was that the pictures were from past elections. One woman called up a Tehran radio station to say that she was sitting at home watching the tube, and saw herself voting. Very droll indeed."It's more like a whole sale
Check National Review Online
This is really bad news. Moderates in the Iranian government are good. Islamofascist terrorists are bad.
I've not been following it closely as I expected this outcome. But from the opening line in this other recent FR thread, the opposition has it's own questions apparently.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1430286/posts
Tehran, Iran, Jun. 24 - Members of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s campaign team were spotted in several cities in western Iran, including Nahavand and Kermanshah, offering cash for votes.
Moderates in the Iranian government were all for show.
A false front without any power.
The Mullahs just decided last year the false front was no longer necessary.
War with Iran in the future: Yes or No? Some thoughts on this?
Personally, I think it may be slowly becoming inevitable. Pres. Bush keeps trumping diplomacy, and he's right, but like in Iraq, you can only use diplomacy for so long.
The only problem, and it's a big one, is that we're tied down with Iraq right now. But we'll see what happens.
Hopefully not, but possibly. The chances of us attacking them for building nukes is low, especially since we didn't find any significant WMD in Iraq, although I do believe it was there at one time. If any attack is to come on Iran, it will be because they attempt to destabilize Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Rafsanjani was hardly a moderate. They've really just replaced one unreasonable hardliner with another. Although I do think this was a bit of a surprise.
If the libs hadn't screamed and yelled about WMDs not being there till they were red in the face, we might not have as much hesitancy to confront other countries pursuing WMDs. Thanks to their profound hatred of Bush and their attempts to destroy him, there might be a hesitancy to confront a HUGE threat that faces us in the future.
Exactly correct, unfortunately that is the current situation. We'll just have to focus on maintaining legitimate democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hope that it sprouts into other Mideast and Asian countries. But it is essential we hold our positions there no matter what.
The problem with this new Iranian "election" is that it now puts an unashamed America hater in. Another hope for peaceful Democratic reform, like what we're seeing in Libya (well, not entirely), is going down the tubes.
Unfortunately, even if we bomb Iran, the mullahs will have plenty a safe haven in the many terrorists already there. Plus, they may turn up the heat on the problems they've been creating in Iraq.
Has Jimmy Carter validated this election? I refuse to believe it until Jimmy C says it's legit.
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