Boston Globe – GLOBE EDITORIAL: The presidential election staged yesterday in Iran embodies a paradox. Because the candidates were selected by an unelected Guardians Council of a dozen theocrats beholden to the unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — after the council had eliminated more than a thousand other would-be candidates — the election is devoid of genuine democratic content.
Charade at the polls
Iran: Latest election results
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 17 Irans Interior Ministry
announced this afternoon the preliminary results of
yesterdays presidential elections.
So far Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is leading
polls with 21.9 percent of the votes.
He is closely followed by Mehdi Karroubi with 19.9 percent
and just trailing at third position is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
with 18.6 percent.
Iran: Latest election results
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 17 Irans Interior Ministry
announced this afternoon the preliminary results of
yesterdays presidential elections.
So far Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is leading
polls with 21.9 percent of the votes.
He is closely followed by Mehdi Karroubi with 19.9 percent
and just trailing at third position is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
with 18.6 percent.
Canada condemns in advance Iran vote result
AFP: Canadian foreign minister Pierre Pettigrew late Friday condemned ahead of time the result of Iran’s presidential election, saying that “true democratic choice has been stifled
by a process that gives too much authority to a non-elected system.” Citing some 1,000 candidates that started out in
Iran’s campaign process, Pettigrew noted that all women who had sought candidacy were “shut out.”
Boycott hits Iranian election
The Scotsman: Counting began in Iran’s presidential elections last night, with low turnouts at some polling stations suggesting that calls for a boycott by pro-reformers had had some effect. In the wealthy suburbs of northern Tehran, where opposition to the country’s theocracy is strongest, some polling stations closed with only a fraction of their ballot papers used.
Iran’s Sham Democracy
New York Times – Editorial: Today’s presidential election in Iran is an affront to true democracy, just as the past record of the front-running contender, Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is an affront to true moderation. As President Bush rightly noted, the voting was effectively rigged in advance by the council of unelected clerics that decided who would and who wouldn’t be allowed to run.
Politics & Policies: Iran’s elections
UPI: President Bush’s denouncing of Iran’s electoral system a day before the Islamic Republic went to the polls to choose a new president was seen by Iranian opposition groups as a sign of encouragement and support. Vowing that “America would support those seeking freedom,” Bush called the Islamic Republic’s electoral system “undemocratic.”
No hurry to vote in languid Iranian town
AFP: Iran has been swift to accuse foreign enemies of seeking a low turnout in Friday’s presidential election, but in the sleepy city of Kashan officials appear to have encountered an even more potent foe — stifling heat. Right into the evening, roads in this city of 215,000 voters on the fringes of the desert were as empty as the polling stations.
Iran elections: Demonstrations continue leading to clashes, arrests
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 17 For the second time in this evening and despite forceful government reaction crowds have gathered in squares across the Iranian capital Tehran, demonstrating against todays presidential elections and setting on fire a vehicle belonging to Irans State Security Forces.
Iran elections: Demonstrations continue leading to clashes, arrests
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 17 For the second time in this evening and despite forceful government reaction crowds have gathered in squares across the Iranian capital Tehran, demonstrating against todays presidential elections and setting on fire a vehicle belonging to Irans State Security Forces.
