*****Iranian Polls Closed**** Both sides claiming victory - Results Update Thread

[grantcart]

If no candidate gets 51% there will be a runoff election on June 19th.

Very long lines, voters waiting two hours to vote.


Al Jazeera has an excellent English station (They just had a report on California State budget crises that was better than anything on cable or network news)

http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al_jazeera_english

The Guardian is running a live blog here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jun/12/iran-middleeast



The Telegraph analysis is that the higher the number of voters the worse it looks for Ahmadinejad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5515813/Iran-election-unprecedented-turnout-boosts-challenge-to-Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad.html


Edit to add

Al Jazeera reports:

Polls have been extended a second time (both legal and not unprecedented)

Poll officials are predicting a 70% turnout.

AP confirming polls extended to 8 PM Iran, 11:30 AM EDT. Polls now officially closed but Iranian tradition is to allow anyone in line to vote.

[Scurrilous]

1. Thanks for the links.

:thumbsup:

[Beetwasher]

2. If Iran Repudiates Ahmadinejad, It Will Be Absolutely Incredible

Obviously, it will be a great thing for the Iranian people, but it will also be a huge victory for Obama.

[MoonRiver]

3. One down (Lebanon), one to go (Iran),

and Obama foreign policy is smelling so sweet! Let's just see Darth try and diss the fact that Obama did in 3 months what the neocon war mongers couldn't pull off in 8 f'n years.

[VWolf]

6. Neocon warmongers accomplished exactly what they wanted

They didn't want peace
They didn't want democracy
They wanted instability and war in order to line their own pockets

[MoonRiver]

7. True, but it's not what the American people want.

Somehow they will have to convince the public that peace means war. That's a tough one, even for Darth.

[vaberella]

22. I thought it was two to go? Don't we want "Benjamin Yahoo" out too? n/t

[bdamomma]

4. this is going to be nail biter.

oh crap, could vote rigging be possible, we should know shouldn't we?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5506702/Irans-rivals-accuse-eachother-of-planning-to-rig-election.html

[shraby]

10. Maybe they learned from our 2004 debacle.

Get in line, stay in line and hang there until you can vote and come out in force. Patience is the name of the game..people here learned the lesson and applied it in 2008...and won.

[Renew Deal]

24. I read that Ahmedinajad controls the vote counters

:hide:

[HopeOverFear]

5. oh shit

[DCBob]

8. Any idea when numbers will start coming in?

Kind of fun getting back into election stuff again. :)

[grantcart]

9. Actual poll resutls not expect for another 12 hours

[DCBob]

13. Figured it might be lengthy.

This could give opportunity for more monkey business.

[vaberella]

23. Later tonight. Possibly around 9pm tonight or later. n/t

[DCBob]

11. Ahmadinejad ally claims he is ahead -- likely an attempt to contradict previous claims by Mousavi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A representative of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the conservative president was ahead in Friday's presidential vote, contradicting an earlier statement by an ally of his main moderate rival, Mirhossein Mousavi. "Based on the evaluation of Ahmadinejad's position he is ahead ... with 60 percent of the votes and we are certain that the election will end in the first round in his favor," Ali Asghar Zarei was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency. He is Ahmadinejad's representative at a supervisory election body, Mehr said. Earlier on Friday, Sadegh Kharazi, an ally of Mousavi, told Reuters that surveys made by reformers showed that the former prime minister was getting about 58-60 percent of the votes cast so far.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE55B3IL20090612

[SuperTrouper]

14. Is this Baghdad Bob now acting as Tehran Bob? I hope Ahmadinejad loses.. nt

[DCBob]

17. Ha! No doubt.

:headbang:

[SoCalDem]

12. Weird.. just 2 minutes ago, they announced that the polls would be open

for HOURS longer, after a second extension:shrug:

[DCBob]

15. Yep. Still open as far as I know.

Very long lines. Great to see such incredible interest in an election. Let just hope the f'king clerics allow the people's voice to be heard.

[grantcart]

16. Officially they are closed but it appears Iranian tradition is flexible on closing time

and allows people in line to continue to vote. Lines are 2 hours or longer so it is safe to say that at some polling spots voters will continue to vote for another couple of hours.

Most analysts say that the higher the volume of voting the worse it will be for Ahmadinejad.

[bdamomma]

18. high volume of voters voting for Mousavi hopefully.

[grantcart]

19. Al Jazeera is now reporting a 3rd extension has been granted

[Raine1967]

20. CNN also Reporting

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/12/iran-extends-voting-for-a-3rd-hour/

[vaberella]

21. There's a lot of stuff going on, on my birthday. Huh!!

[grantcart]

26. HA!!!!

Happy Birthday Vaberella

:party:

[vaberella]

36. Not yet. The 19th----I was born on Juneteeth----I have a parade my in honor.

I'm joking...African American liberation day.

[grantcart]

25. According to Rueters polls are now officially closed

[jefferson_dem]

27. Limpballs was a hoot today.

He was having a hissy fit over how there's no way Obama influenced this election outcome, even if they unseat Ahmadinejad. If one was cynical about the fat bastard <*raises hand*>, one could almost assume Limballs was rooting for the scumbaggy "Holocaust Denier" in the election.

[DCBob]

31. Limbaugh knows this is killer issue for the hard-line Republicans..

If Ahmadinejad is removed it will be seen as validating the Obama foreign policy strategy. Obama did in 5 months what Bush could not do in 8 years.

[grantcart]

32. That's why I included "death of 'neo-con-ism'" in my thread yesterday

It will have many long term remifications, from Israel to our Defense Budget.

There will be enormous pressure on Netanyahu to respond. Linkage to Iran is now dead.

[DCBob]

33. Totally agree. This is big even though it does not change the power structure in Iran.

But it will set a new direction towards peace and moderation that could lead to real change in Iran and the rest of the ME.

[vaberella]

37. He probably was. n/t

[Number23]

28. "He is our Obama."

Iranians around the world also voted. In Dubai, home to an estimated 200,000 Iranians, the streets around the polling station at the Iranian consulate were jammed with voters overwhelmingly favoring Mousavi.

"He is our Obama," said Maliki Zadehamid, a 39-year-old exporter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election

Wow. Just wow...

[wroberts189]

30. great quote thx nt

[rhett o rick]

29. Any mention if Diebolt was operating the voting machines? nm

[dorkulon]

34. "Iranian tradition is to allow anyone in line to vote."

Sounds like we could learn a thing or two from them.

[grantcart]

35. Al Jazeera reporting Mousovi projecting they got 65% of the vote

[vaberella]

41. I need confirmation GC...I don't want to get destroyed in the end, like with Gore. n/t

[Thrill]

38. Sounds like Ahmadinejad learned a little from Bush. Steal it!

[quantass]

39. Precisely!

Sounds like a bit of a riot tonite in Iranian streets

[Kaleko]

40. Waiting... what a nailbiter this is.

[Cha]

42. Edge of my seat

too!

[BolivarianHero]

43. Diebold stole it for Bucky...

The military-industrial complex benefits from having a warmongering reactionary in power.