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June 19, 2005
Iran's vote rigged, candidate charges
The New York Times reports that the race for the presidency in Iran was thrown into turmoil Saturday when one of the top vote-getters accused conservative hard-liners of rigging the election.
Interestingly, the accusation comes from Mehdi Karroubi, who is not know for being a "troublemaker".
However, the Interior Ministry on Saturday issued unofficial final results stating the former two-term president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, would face off against the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The problem is that leading up to the election Ahmadinejad was near the bottom of pre-election opinion surveys. And, hours before the ministry issued its own results he announced that that he would be in the runoff.
Not surprising, the day before the election President Bush declared that the electoral process in Iran "had failed to meet the basic requirements of democracy and that the oppressive record of the country's rulers would undercut the legitimacy of the vote." (NY Times via Michelle Malkin)
See Regime Change in Iran for the latest.
Posted by tim at June 19, 2005 1:27 AM
