Iran faced turmoil last night as the hardline President and his centrist challenger both claimed victory in a bitterly contested election.
The offical news agency reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won, and the state elections chief said that the President had 69 per cent of the vote with 35 per cent of the ballots counted. However, the main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, insisted that he was the “definite winner” by a substantial margin, and an aide suggested that he had taken 65 per cent.
The official result will be announced today, but the huge turnout ─ close to the historic record of 80 per cent ─ appeared to favour Mr Mousavi’s claim. Urban, middle-class Iranians, who seldom bother to vote, did so yesterday because they thought Mr Ahmadinejad’s first four years in office a disaster.
It was widely alleged, but never proved, that vote-rigging secured Mr Ahmadinejad’s unlikely victory in 2005. He entered that election an unknown, but was backed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader.
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11:24 am EDT, June 13th, 2009 — Mir Hossein Mousavi won’t accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad victory
11:28 am EDT, June 13th, 2009 — Official: Obama Administration Skeptical of Iran’s Election Results
2:24 pm EDT, June 13th, 2009 — Street Photos
2:36 pm EDT, JUne 13th, 2009 — Report: Defeated Ahmadinejad rival arrested in Iran2:55 pm EDT, June 13th, 2009 — Landslide or Fraud?
4:33 pm EDt, June 13th, 2009 — Protesters battle with police after Iranian election
5:32 pm EDT, June 13th, 2009 — Secret police attacked
Notes:
Interesting. Next Friday is a normal day of prayer but maybe not. The audience everywhere — every mosque in the land — may respond to the sermon with shoes and rotten tomatoes. I can see it now.
Even better. The preacher stands up to preach to the flock and there is nobody there. He must talk to a vacant hall and it remains that way until Amadinajad is gone.
80% turnout? Hmmmm, seems we here in the west could take a lesson from that.
High turnout at polls can only mean a kind of desperation among the people who are looking for a means to a viable life. Canadians must get on top of that for our next go-around, particularly getting on top of the fact that the ‘entitlement LPC” will tax everything moving/breathing, etc. — if it doesn’t happen anyway because expended stimulus monies means generations to come get to repay, meaning lowered standards of living/expectations for the rising generation. We, babyboomers, had the ball and the benefits in our court throughout a few decades — 50s, 60s anyway. One salary households could afford to self-sustain and generally stay-at-home Moms could raise stable/secure children, but not now.
It’s so important to get the message out in Canadian mailboxes as to the issues in the next election. Gov’t message focusing on our standing gov’t having had working families in mind over three budgets now (see Harper gov’t accomplishments website) as opposed to the zero policy offerings of the official opposition.
The Ipsos Reid poll yesterday (Ottawa Citizen) states to the effect that over 51 percent of Canadians are satisfied with the standing gov’t's economic performance duringt the downturn. The poll involved just over 1000 respondents — certainly not considered a viable measurement by any, but there have been many online polls inquiring of opinion re our Conservative gov’t's policies involving many thousands of votes. I noted in the majority there was between 62- 88 percent support for decisions the Tories made, especially on the economic front.
I fully believe we can expect between a 60-70 percent support for the Tories come next election, whenever it will occur. Warren Kinsella’s ‘nervous nellie’ rollout of his ten points day before last as to why the Liberals must push for an election now, proves outright the Tories are a substantial challenge BECAUSE THEY OWN A WORTHY RECORD. I think Ignatieff is virtually ‘check-mated’ come Monday. If he rejects the gov’t's budget, he’ll set the economy and Canadians back irrevocably. We can’t afford his ego-centric quest for power right now, as only a minority might materialize, but more likely a majority for the Tories.
I just don’t see Canada losing the progress right now. Ignatieff and company know this, that’s why the delay over the weekend in the decision. They are ‘check-mated.’ All thanks to Harper and team’s brilliant strategy throughout. This means Canada gets to avoid any return to a corrupt prospect into the future. A very good thing. We can’t go back and we’d better get the message out. Particularly to the immigrant communities in the hub of Toronto. Including the quarter million Tamils in the TO ridings.
Good luck to us, eh?
This situation is building. Iran made a huge mistake by trying to shut down dissent closing papers and TV stations, trying to silence the net (they can’t) and using police brutality ( I saw one report somewhere where three people have been killed).
It will take a few days for the news to get around in Iran but when it does all hell is going to break loose.
Why do I say that?
Because people are the same everywhere and they don’t like being used.