Iran: Ahmadinejad opponents lead in early returns

The government celebrated what it called an epic turnout for the parliamentary elections. The overall turnout was claimed to be 64.2 per cent with 48 per cent in the capital Tehran. Many westernised more liberal urbanites would not bother to vote since most liberals were not qualified to run. Four years ago the turnout was 60 per cent. While the regime may be elevating the numbers these figures do not seem out of the ball park.

The leading group United Principlist Front has been quite critical of Ahmidinejad for his handling of the economy and also for not showing sufficient loyalty to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Even Ahmadinejad's sister lost her seat in her hometown.

David Hartwell a Middle East analyst said voter had a choice "between two brands of hard line conservatism -- a mainly religious strand personified by followers of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a more nationalist strand advocated by supporters of Ahmadinejad," Ahmadinejad is not eligible to seek re-election next year but these results show that a president less in conflict with the Supreme Leader will likely win.

There were more than 3,400 candidates all cleared to run by the Guardian Council composed of lawyers and clerics. The final results may not be in for a day or so. For more see this Bloomberg article

Iranian elections a battle between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei

Not much attention is being paid to the Iranian elections in the west. In the U.S. the press is much too busy following the ins and outs of the Republican primaries. Press coverage tends to ignore the issues and simply point out that few liberals are running. They are either declared ineligible or in some cases are under house arrest!

The middle class and university westernised types are alienated from the process. They are not even expected to hold enough demonstrations to attract western media coverage. Nevertheless the elections are still important because there is a struggle between those who support president Ahmadinejad and those who support the Supreme Leader Khamenei.

The main conflict in the election is between the Resistance Front bloc of President Ahmidinejad and the United Front of Supreme Leader Khamenei. Ahmadiniejad is disliked by many conservative religious leaders. The system is designed to frustrate any strong dissent from the status quo as the Committee to Protect Journalists said:"That the government's repression is intensifying before an election underscores its disregard for the basic rights of its people," Two journalists had been arrested and many people prevented from accessing the Internet.

The regime is hoping for a large turnout in the hopes this will give the regime more legitimacy. Official sources say that there are 3,400 candidates running for 290 seats. This however is a decline from the last election! For more see this article.