Iran reformist regains influence

[democratic]

Iran's moderate former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has won election to Iran's powerful clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, results show.

The election - and simultaneous local polls - was seen as a test of support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

His main rival, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi - seen as a political mentor to President Ahmadinejad - is trailing in sixth place, but with enough votes to retain a seat on the Assembly of Experts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6188207.stm

[Odin2005]

1. I'm suprised the Ahmadinejad apologists have posted yet...

...saying that the reformists are Neo-Con lackeys. :eyes:

[MADem]

21. The idea that anyone save the Guardian Council determines who gets elected is amusing at any rate

I guess they redlined something like ten thousand names this time, as being "unacceptable." The GC isn't stupid--they have seen the unrest, the anger, the recent demonstrations against the hardliners, so they're allowing some "moderate reformers" to be elected to take the pressure off. The midget mayor of Teheran who is currently serving as president Council Puppet might want to start thinking about what he'll do in the future once they tire of his sabre-rattling, Jew-baiting act.

[Heidi]

2. Kick.

:kick:

[democratic]

3. Ahmadinejads hardliners defeated in Iran's twin elections

-Irans elections are all vetted by a group of hardline clerics so anyone running is loyal to the Islamic Republic it is like giving us a choice of 4 members of the Christian coalition but looks like Iranians decided not the boycott - evil is better than the most of all evils.

Iranians have dealt a blow to President Ahmadinejad’s hardline Government, by thwarting his allies in municipal and clerical elections.

According to early results, Mr Ahmadinejad’s fundamentalist mentor who espouses cultural isolation from the West, was trailing sixth in the Tehran vote for the Assembly of Experts, Iran’s all-powerful clerical council. Reformists were also expected to seize a handful of seats on Tehran city council, signalling a comeback after three electoral defeats in the past three years.

The President’s critics interpreted the high turnout as a shift in the popular mood towards more moderate policies and away from his conservatism at home and confrontational stance abroad. They claim that Mr Ahmadinejad’s international defiance is a ruse to distract attention from failures at home. During the presidential elections, he promised to give the poor a fairer share of the country’s oil wealth, but he has yet to deliver on his pledge.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2509653,00.html

[Zorra]

4. Good news. Another fascist takes a hit. n/t

[eallen]

5. Yay! 2006 was the year voters turned against religious wingnuts.

Admittedly, their wingnuts are quite a bit more extreme than our wingnuts.

[951-Riverside]

6. and their wingnuts are brown and muslim n/t

:eyss:

[Miss Chybil]

7. A wingnut is a wingnut.

Some just have the legal ability to act upon their impulses via stoning, beheading, hanging, etc., others prefer to rob you blind.

[MADem]

14. Not that it matters, but they aren't particularly 'brown'

Persians are Indo-European. They run the gamut of shades, from blue eyed blondes to dark eyes, dark hair and a good tan.



http://www.iranmehr.com/famous.asp

[davhill]

16. I knew an Iranian girl

Full blooded Persian, who had red hair,blue eyes, and freckles. Most of them look Italian though.

[MADem]

20. I lived next door to a family with light brown hair and sky blue eyes.

The infants were blondes...this was in Teheran. Paw was an imam at the local masjid.

You see a load of grey, blue and green eyes amongst the population as well. Some people confuse Iranians and Afghans with Arabs, and they aren't the same at all.

[davhill]

23. When were you in Teheran

I got out in Feb 79, the same day Khomeni arrived after the Shah had left. I had been a computer consultant at ISIRAN.

[MADem]

24. I was there for a bit more than a month after you

But I was living in the south when Shah left and the Big K arrived. I lived in northern Teheran (Tajriz) a few years previously.

[gratuitous]

8. Uh oh, better invade Iran fast, George

Your boogey man might be slipping from power, and then what will your rationale for invasion be???

[goforit]

9. YEP, George has to fullfill his fantasy.

[aquart]

10. Always thought he reminded me of George.

[ShockediSay]

11. "international defiance is a ruse to distract attention from failures at home"

like you said

[Zhade]

12. Good! Too bad the illegal assumption of b*s* delayed this by years.

NT!

[goforit]

13. Theis shows the world, THE majority, despises and rejects their leaders.

[MADem]

15. Actually, what it shows is that the Guardian Council is nearly done with the midget mayor of Teheran

They "allowed" a few more progressives to appear on the ballot this time, in order to marginalize that nutcase. What it signals is that the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader are interested in dialogue with the US. Unfortunately, there are no free elections in Iran. The candidates are all pre-vetted by the ruling clerics. This last election, maybe thirty percent of eligible voters bothered to vote.

Iran imports forty percent of their gasoline. They're in rough shape because they have no refining capacity. The people are tired of the religious rhetoric; most of the country wasn't even born when the revolution happened. The kids just want to have some FUN. Iranians are, by nature, some of the best partyers around--they love music, food, dance....and this draconian government doesn't suit their national temperament.

[Jim Sagle]

17. Just like us.

[ButterflyBlood]

18. Nice to see Iranians do have an ounce of common sense

The right results both here and there this year.

[rollopollo]

19. Results

I've wondered at the significance of Iran's elections. Any results can be voided by the "Supreme Guide". In some ways, I wonder if they are like Jordan's elections where parties share the same overall objectives. What I mean is that, this seems almost staged- you get an extremist to make comments that earns Iran respect of other Arab states, then you replace him with a moderate as a concession to the West, and have someone that the West is willing to negotiate with, as opposed to bomb.

[MADem]

22. The Guardian Council determines who goes on the ballot in the first place.

When the midget mayor stood for President, they knocked a whole boatload of reformers off that ballot, and it came down to him and Rafsanjani. Then, they sent out a bunch of asswipes to the mosques (said to have been coordinated by the son of the Supreme Leader--which tells us that they were scared shitless of a reasonable moderate conservative like Rafsanjani getting too much clout) to rustle up the vote for the midget mayor. The basic threat was along the lines of "no faith based money unless you vote the way we tell you." The mosque voters got out and did what they were told.

Of course, most Iranians (something like seventy percent) were so disgusted they just stayed home during that election. Elections are new to Iran still, and so far, they are a damned joke. You're quite right when you say they are almost staged--the Guardian Council always arranges it so that either candidate is acceptable to them, and it's really too damned bad what the people actually want!