Iran declares win for Ahmadinejad in disputed vote

Saturday 13th June, 09:12 PM JST

TEHRAN —

Iran declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner Saturday of an election that pitted the conservative establishment against candidate with broad backing from the country’s youth. Riot police attacked opposition supporters, beating them with clubs and smashing cars.

A statement from Mousavi posted on his website condemned what he described as the “manipulation” of election results.

Demonstrators wearing the trademark green color of Mir Hossein Mousavi chanted slogans condemning the results that gave 62.6% of the vote to Ahmadinejad. Protesters set fire to tires outside the Interior Ministry in the most serious unrest in Tehran in a decade.

Witnesses also said a commercial bank elsewhere in the city was set on fire.

Police attacked the demonstrators near the Interior Ministry, where the election results were announced, beating them with clubs and smashing cars. Police also moved to disperse any large gatherings of people around the city.

An Associated Press photographer saw a plainclothes security official beating a woman with his truncheon.

In another main street of Tehran, some 300 young people blocked the avenue by forming a human chain chanted “Ahmadi, shame on you. Leave the government alone.”

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, who supervised the elections and heads the nation’s police forces warned people not to join any “unauthorized gatherings” as he gave detailed results for the elections.

“If there are gatherings in some places, people should not join them,” he said. “Lets not give opportunities to people who aren’t affiliated to any candidates.”

He added that in Tehran itself, Mousavi won more votes than the incumbent.

Overall, however, Mousavi only took 33.75% of the vote in a contest that was widely perceived to be much closer than the official results.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, thanked the people for their record 85% participation and warned opposition candidates to “avoid provocative behavior.”

“I assume that enemies intend to eliminate the sweetness of the election with their hostile provocation,” he said in his televised address.

He called the results a “divine assessment” and called on all the candidates to support the president.

Nationwide, the text messaging system remained down Saturday and several pro-Mousavi websites were blocked or difficult to access. Text messaging is frequently used by many Iranians — especially young Mousavi supporters — to spread election news and organize.

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Latest 15 of 32 Total Comments Show All

Sarge at 08:33 PM JST - 13th June

Congratulations to Mahmoud I'minajihad, and my condolences to the Iranian people.
northlondon at 09:01 PM JST - 13th June

when is tehran NOT tense ?

Have you ever been there ? Most probably not. So I guess Compton is not going to be tense tonight ? Or downtown Marseilles ? Or Coldharbour Lane in Brixton ?

my condolences to the Iranian people.

Sarge, I doubt that they care for your condolences very much. It seems that the majority voted for him again. I mean, the rest of the world must have offered it's condolences to the American people when Bush was declared the winner despite not having the majority vote.
Betzee at 09:18 PM JST - 13th June

I'm a republican and neither I nor any of my republican friends want Ahmadinejad in power.

Most Republicans have said it doesn't matter who wins because they don't see the elections as anything other than a sham.
northlondon at 09:30 PM JST - 13th June

Most Republicans have said it doesn't matter who wins because they don't see the elections as anything other than a sham.

Please note the last sentence of my post above yours. The Republican Party of America were the masters of the election sham long before Ahmadinejad tried it.
iraqisurvival at 09:46 PM JST - 13th June

Looks clearly rigged election, everyone predicted close election and there was a lot of people criticizing Ahmedinajad, even some of his previous supporters, and there were several candidates. this is BS. I wonder how much Iranians regret replacing the Shah dictatorship with a theocratic dictatorship. at least the Shah modernized Iran and had close diplomatic relationship with most countries . Now Iran is poorer and isolated. I doubt Iranians chose Ahmedinajad.

Who would vote for such an idiot anyway. Now Iranians have to wait for their Obama . on the other hand everything in hands of the "supreme" leader. so their Obama have to be a new supreme leader and new constitutional council.
Betzee at 10:01 PM JST - 13th June

The Republican Party of America were the masters of the election sham long before Ahmadinejad tried it.

The Islamic Republic nearly consumed two presidencies. Carter's of course, and then Reagan's. While Iran Contra has been all but excised from the historic record, in the late 1980s it posed some very troubling constitutional and leadership questions. one of the Reagan administration's defenses was that it had been trying to strengthen moderates within the Tehran government.

The missed opportunity was when a moderate was elected in 1997 Bill Clinton didn't move on it. Of course the "we don't negotiate with evil we defeat it" chorus would have been louder than when Reagan strengthened diplomatic overtures to the USSR after Gorbachev came to power.

The Iranian people did show solidarity with Americans after 9/11. There were candle light vigils in Tehran. But that couldn't be accommodated in a black and white mindset. When GWB declared Iran to be a member of "the axis of evil" that must have been music to the hardliner's ears. There was no way anyone could campaign on a reapproachment with the USA platform in 2005.

American conservatives probably see the noble Iranian people are suffering under a tyrannical regime led by religious and assorted crackpots. Yet such a view is hard to maintain given the fact Ahmadinejad does have a strong base of popular support which owes both to populist domestic policies and his confrontational foreign policy. It is viewed, by some Iranians, as a source of strength in a dog eat dog world. Don't mess with us.
Betzee at 10:08 PM JST - 13th June

I wonder how much Iranians regret replacing the Shah dictatorship with a theocratic dictatorship.

I wouldn't go there, it will elicit a denunciation of the US role in toppling democratically elected Mossadegh and re-installing the Shah in power in 1953. Had he not been forced to leave the country in 1979 when he was terminally ill, it's unlikely his teenage son could have held on to power. The family is immensely wealthy and he maintains a government in exile which is not taken seriously be anyone in Iran.
SushiSake3 at 10:17 PM JST - 13th June

The U.S. Republicans have great reason to celebrate tonight.

One of their few remaining aces to remaining relevant and scaring Americans has keep his post.

A great day for Republicans everywhere. :-)
Betzee at 10:30 PM JST - 13th June

I don't see a second Ahmadinejad term as simply a continuation of the first. After Saddam was toppled there was a power vacuum in the Muslim Middle East. Ahmadinejad was clearly trying to increase his regional stature by making pronouncements intended to play well on Arab Street and position himself as the anti-GWB. But he wasn't successful. It's very likely Persian Shias can assume leadership of Arab Sunnis.
SuperLib at 02:28 AM JST - 14th June

SushiSake: Republicans NEED Ahmadinejad to remain in power.

You've officially reached troll status. How the mighty have fallen....
SuperLib at 02:33 AM JST - 14th June

Well I guess we're just going to have to wait and see how this all plays out. I can't say I know what happened in the polling stations on both sides, but it seems odd to me. From BBCnews.com:

"The figures, if they are to be believed, show Mr Ahmadinejad winning strongly even in the heartland of Mr Mousavi, the main opposition contender.

The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad's win means that many people who voted for a reformist candidate in the previous presidential election four years ago have apparently switched their votes to Mr Ahmadinejad, he adds."
SezWho2 at 07:15 AM JST - 14th June

To claim that the hatred of Israel has anything to do with a particular piece of land is laughable.

Considering that Israel is a particular piece of land, what is laughable would be the claim that hatred of Israel has nothing to do with that.
maksonoil at 07:57 AM JST - 14th June

Since US is bankrupt, they must make money. They can export weapons because that is the only industry they have which is good. Forget car industry or some industry. Since US is bankrupt and need to borrow 300 billions from Asia each year just to get going, US should hand over industries or start selling missiles to Japan and China.
teleprompter at 12:54 PM JST - 14th June

With regard to their antagonism and objections to Israel's existence what historical basis can Persian, Shiite Iran point to that would justify the way A'jad uses the issue for Iran's naked imperial ambitions in the region?

None.
SezWho2 at 02:47 PM JST - 14th June

With regard to their antagonism and objections to Israel's existence what historical basis can Persian, Shiite Iran point to that would justify the way A'jad uses the issue for Iran's naked imperial ambitions in the region?

None.

So what? They are separate issues and the yet-to-be-established (as opposed to naked) imperial ambition of Iran has nothing to do with the much broader objection to the existence of Israel.