Iran election results lead to unrest after Ahmadinejad landslide victory

[kaiser soze]

I am not surprised, but I doubt this response will illicit any change. It is unfortunate that some of these protesters are responding violently. I hope these people are not crushed by their own government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/13/2597503.htm

Thousands of angry supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have massed in Tehran to protest at the election result, with some pelting stones at baton-wielding police.

"Down with the dictator!" shouted the crowd as they streamed into one of the capital's main squares after latest results showed incumbent hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had secured a landslide win.

Latest results showed Mr Mousavi with 11.7 million votes against 21.8 million for Mr Ahmadinejad.

The former premier said it was his "national and religious duty to reveal the secrets of this dangerous process and to explain its destructive consequences for the future of the country".

He said many people did not get the chance to vote, because polling stations shut and ballot papers ran out.

They also claim their scrutineers were banned from mobile polling booths.

Reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who came a distant third with less than 2 per cent, also declared that the result was "illegitimate and unacceptable".

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=clipclip100&view=videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42wusKmMge4

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31341022#31341022

[funk63]

If they were going to rig the election and expect people to buy into it, they should have gone with numbers that were a little more believable.

[chromium05]

^^ My thoughts too.

But I can't help feeling that the CIA / Mossad / MI6 have thier hands in the unrest too....

Why are all western media outlets focussing on the "must be a fix"? Is it because the Iranians voted to keep Ahmedinejad rather than some pro-western arse kisser?

[Bob]

it's not that he won, it's that he won by such a hilarious amount of votes. i dunno, maybe he's just really that popular over there, maybe they do democracy a little different but generally presidents don't win by that many votes

[saz]

the race was very tight and apparently was initially too close to call, and now it looks like there was some serious fraud. this reaction from many iranians has been a long time coming, and i'm sort of surprised it took this long. iran has a burgeoning middle class which is secular and wants much stronger ties with the west. remember too that desite being regarded as second class citizens, iranian women can go to university and college and become doctors, lawyers etc. there has also been high unemployment, a very sluggish economy, and great dissatisfaction with the ruling mullahs for quite some time. prior to ahmadinejad's first term in office, iranians had elected the pro-western, liberal president mohammad khatami.

[kaiser soze]

Iran "Supreme Leader" presses for probe of election fraud.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader ordered Monday an investigation into allegations of election fraud, marking a stunning turnaround by the country's most powerful figure and offering hope to opposition forces who have waged street clashes to protest the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

State television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directing a high-level clerical panel, the Guardian Council, to look into charges by pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has said he is the rightful winner of Friday's presidential election.

Not that a supreme leader is a great sign of democracy, quite possibly this might be a move towards some form of reform.

[RobMoney$]

God bless the people of Iran.

It warms my heart to see a nation protest such an obvious fraud.
America has become a nation of castrated sheep.


This aggression will not stand - The Dude

[saz]

hooman rajd on real time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0j4kp3G5Bs) provides incredible insight into the current situation. this guy should be on all the major networks (y)

[Dorothy Wood]

where is the humane Obama now, to call in no unclear fashion for a change of regime in Iran (?!)


um, or what? we're gonna bomb them too?