Ahmadinejad allies fail to sweep Iran vote
Ultra-conservatives close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have failed to sweep twin Iranian elections with embattled moderate forces recording a respectable performance, initial results have showed. Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appeared to have sprung a surprise by reaping by far the most votes and beating a hardline rival in the election for the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses the supreme leader.
Ahmadinejad's grip on power is not as solid as some seem to believe, nor is Iran of one mind on their foreign relations and future path.
Citizen SMASH and Paul Silver both pointed last week to this article in the Arab News that provides some good background on the current Iranian political situation.
UPDATE: For anyone who doubts the nature of the current Tehran regime, here's some extra reading.
[Cross-posted to Stubborn Facts.]
I wonder if "Assembly of Experts" and "Council of Guardians of the Constitution" sound as ironically creepy and sinister, in a cartoon sort of way, in Farsi as they do in English. Maybe the translation of "Supreme Court" into Farsi sounds really weird too?
Posted by: Justin | December 17, 2006 at 07:39 PM
Something like "Supreme Court" translating into "Avenging Guardians of the Holy Writ" or "Grand Inquisitors of Allah?" LOL. No doubt. Likely going the other way in translation we often sound just as odd to them as they do to us. Or get lost altogether. How do you translate "PTA" into Farsi? And if you translate it back literally into English, would it come out as "League of the Zealous Progenitor" or something like?
Only half of Iranians are Persian. They have a big mix of ethnicities and regionalisms going, and many are restive and discontented. The median age in Iran is 25 yrs, meaning that most Iranians don't remember the revolution of 1979, having not been born. I think all that's good for us, but it's just my opinion.
Posted by: Tully | December 17, 2006 at 08:50 PM
There's something else that is important to the story. No one can actually run for office in Iran without being pre-cleared by the mullahs. In 2004 Rafsanjani's people were barred from running. That they were allowed to run this time is an indicator that the mullahs are displeased with Ahmadinejad.
Posted by: Tully | December 18, 2006 at 06:27 PM
Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani...
Isn't this the guy who claims Iran will destroy Israel by nuclear fire and it doesn't matter if Iran gets wiped out because Islam will survive?
That's centrist in Iran, I guess.
Posted by: trainer | December 21, 2006 at 09:48 PM