Several articles on the Iranian election: The Guardian Brad Blog Daily Voting News. Right now we have no way verifying or refuting the official result.
For now, we can say that Ahmadinejad seems to have won, one way or another. But winning in a questionable way with the opposition protesting is not a complete win, it may come back and bite sooner or later. It has been said that election credibility is for the losers so that they can accept the result. We say it is for the voters so that they actually determine their government and have confidence that their collective intent is realized. Credibility is missing. Without credibility, democracy loses — no matter the intent of the voters — no matter the accuracy of the election.
From The Guardian: Iranians can’t believe it:
I don’t mean that Ahmadinejad did not have any supporters at all. He had many supporters actually – some of his rallies were as huge as Mousavi’s and the competition between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi looked pretty close, but winning twice as many votes as Mousavi is incredible. That’s why Iranians are now demonstrating on streets. They can’t believe it.
As Brad Friedman makes the same point, and how it applies to us: Iran’s 2009 Election Results Suggest Massive Fraud
Just Like Ohio’s in 2004 Without citizen oversight and transparency, ‘faith-based’ elections threaten democracy no matter where they are held…
It sounds a lot like Ohio 2004. A less than popular old-line incumbent facing massive public demonstrations against him and in favor of his main progressive challenger promising reform; polls that suggest a swell of support for the challenger…
The most substantive difference from Ohio 2004, however: the declared winner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is said to have defeated his main opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi by a 63% to 34% “landslide,” instead of the razor-thin margin seen in Ohio…
The other main differences between Iran ’09 and Ohio ’04: New York Times is already asking “Landslide or Fraud?” this morning; in Iran, supporters of the challenger are taking to the streets; and the challenger himself has already called the election results a “fraud”…
