Rocky Mountain News – Opinion: While blasting President Bush for questioning the honesty of last Friday’s elections, Iran’s ruling clerics were busily trying to fix the outcome of this Friday’s runoff. On the eve of last Friday’s ballot, Bush issued a statement saying, accurately, that power in Iran “is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy.”
In Iran, voting isn’t really democracy
Cliffhanger in Iran
New York Times – Editorial: What a surprise: in the race for the mostly meaningless position of president of Iran, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, the conservative hard-line mayor of Tehran, came in second place, and will be in a runoff on Friday with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former two-term president. Mehdi Karroubi, the former speaker of Parliament who was the closest thing to a reformist in Iranian politics, accused hard-liners of rigging the election.
Iran election digest
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 21 – Action will be taken against SMS advertisers
Pro-Rafsanjani website says Supreme Leader prays for election frontrunner
Khatami implicitly backs Rafsanjani
Interior Ministry warns of further vote-rigging
Daily suspended indefinitely
Defeated conservative candidate backs Rafsanjani
Yazd election chief resigns to campaign on behalf of Rafsanjani
Iran election digest
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 21 – Action will be taken against SMS advertisers
Pro-Rafsanjani website says Supreme Leader prays for election frontrunner
Khatami implicitly backs Rafsanjani
Interior Ministry warns of further vote-rigging
Daily suspended indefinitely
Defeated conservative candidate backs Rafsanjani
Yazd election chief resigns to campaign on behalf of Rafsanjani
Iran cleric Karroubi draws fire for divulging vote fix
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 21 – Recent comments by defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and his decision to go public with information about tampering of the polls have aroused the wrath of the ruling clerics, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reports from Tehran indicated that members of the paramilitary Bassij had attacked Karroubis residence and threatened to lay siege to it, and an array of military and political institutions closely identified with Khamenei issued statements denouncing the clerics moves that only help the enemies of the Islamic Republic.
Iran cleric draws fire for divulging vote fix
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 21 – Recent comments by defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and his decision to go public with information about tampering of the polls have aroused the wrath of the ruling clerics, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reports from Tehran indicated that members of the paramilitary Bassij had attacked Karroubis residence and threatened to lay siege to it, and an array of military and political institutions closely identified with Khamenei issued statements denouncing the clerics moves that only help the enemies of the Islamic Republic.
Iran cleric draws fire for divulging vote fix
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 21 – Recent comments by defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and his decision to go public with information about tampering of the polls have aroused the wrath of the ruling clerics, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reports from Tehran indicated that members of the paramilitary Bassij had attacked Karroubis residence and threatened to lay siege to it, and an array of military and political institutions closely identified with Khamenei issued statements denouncing the clerics moves that only help the enemies of the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s Message: No More Nice Guys
The Wall Street Journal – GLOBAL VIEW: Whoever wins an electoral runoff and becomes Iran’s new president, the news won’t be good, either for Iranians or Americans and Europeans disturbed about the regime’s quest for nuclear weaponry. The country’s ruling mullahs blatantly displayed their muscle, and vote-rigging skills, in last Friday’s initial vote. That suggests that
they are no longer interested in creating even the illusion of
political moderation.
Irans presidential underdog provokes controversy
Iran Focus: London, Jun. 21 – A 49-year-old former commander in Irans elite Revolutionary Guards catapulted to super-politician status by the unexpected results of Fridays presidential elections in Iran found himself at the centre of a growing controversy over allegations
of vote fraud, his own shadowy past, and speculations over a crafty scheme by the top leaders of the clerical regime to lure voters to the polling booths.
Irans presidential underdog provokes controversy
Iran Focus: London, Jun. 21 – A 49-year-old former commander in Irans elite Revolutionary Guards catapulted to super-politician status by the unexpected results of Fridays presidential elections in Iran found himself at the centre of a growing controversy over allegations
of vote fraud, his own shadowy past, and speculations over a crafty scheme by the top leaders of the clerical regime to lure voters to the polling booths.
