Mousavi at a campaign rally in Isfahan24 May 2009. ISNA photo
A female supporter wearing wristband in campaign's green colorRay. 24 May 2009. ILNA Photo
A campaign rally in Tehran
24 May 2009. ISNA Photo
24 May 2009. ISNA Photo
The campaign of former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi to unseat the siting president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is gaining momentum. The first round of presidential elections will be held on 12 June. Mousavi needs to take the elections to the second round for a one-to-one faceoff with Ahmadinejad and a chance to become the seventh president of the Islamic Republic.
Are there any public polls that show who seems have the most support and how the trends are going? I've read that Ahmadinejad has the support of Khomenei, does that have any actual practical consequences on the ground for who is better able to campaign and ultimately win?
ReplyDeleteDear Chris,
ReplyDeleteKhomeini has been dead for 20 years, by all respect but I think you belong to the group of Americans who call Iran... "eye-ran" and not "eeeran"
would you have been calling Israel .. eye-srael, I would understand your accentual limits, but as I know, thats not the case.
Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad has a lot of support, but If all go and vote in Iran, I think there is a good chance of "eeeran" becoming a new President.
No hard feeling buddy.;)
Chris,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. The latest polls show Ahmadinejad leading the race. But the opinion polls are notoriously unreliable in Iran, and are politically tainted.
Support from Khamenei helps Ahmadinejad with Basij and IRGC votes, but Mousavi also hopes to gain their support as well (he was the wartime premier).
Mousavi seems to be gaining momentum and appears to be the main challenger to Ahmadinejad.
I am sure you meant Khamenei and not Khomeini. I don't understand Persicus comments and his sarcasm.
Dear Uskowi,
ReplyDeleteThe terminus "Sarcasm" is bit too harsh here....(would be like me calling his mistake "ignorance")
I am sure he understood my point, without wanting to sue me, and plz have the courtesy and allow a bit of constructive international criticism. Since half of the worlds problems arouse from these little mistakes...
I simply could not resist... and would do it again :)
Bless your work here, doing fine
Yes, I did mean Khamenei, I apologize for the misspelling or confusion.
ReplyDeleteI have heard the polls/media were unreliable, I am curious about how reliable the voting process is then? From a governance point though, how much power does the "eee-ranian" president actually have? I have read conflicting reports that it is mostly as a public face of "eeeran" and domestic control, and in foreign policy lyes mostly with the IRGC, but that final foreign policy decisions rely elsewhere? Is that a correct assessment? I apologize for any "ignorance" on my part...
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate your positively charged tit 4 tat response
your assesment is correct.
Irans democracy is somehow to be described as a rotating authocracy.
(actually very much like the Dem. and rep. rotation here in the states)
The authority of a President in Iran depends on his lobby (very much like the US) eg. should in the US "AIPAC" be behind a president, then, the US president can talk to Jesus and go to wars in chase of WMD's / should he not have AIPAC behind him, like Clinton , then he shall have one scandal after another, preocuppying the nation.
Iran is somehow the same, This Ahmadinejad as Uskowi said has the armed forces and the militia behind him, his opponents ought to encourage the young to go to the polls to counter all the votes that Ahmadinejad already secured.
What the actual power is concerned, Irans AIPAC is called the Expediency Discernment Council.
figure the rest out..
www.persicus-maximus.blogspot.com
hey, all in good fun, thanks for the info and discussion (I do promise from now on to be an American who always says "Eeeran" and not "Eye-ran" and hopefully lessen some of my "ignorance")...
ReplyDeleteJust as an outsider, it does make one wonder how much a reformist can actually accomplish, since it seems the conservatives always have final say...
Hey, loool good thing you are so interested,
ReplyDeleteA reformist can move a lot, but Iran ought no to be under constant threat from the outside.
I assure you, Bush and Chenny, torpedoed the reform movement of the Khatami era, with their axis of evil blunder.
I recommend you if interested, to get hold of some of "Trita Parsi" books, or just check the you tube on him, his analysis as a realist is very interesting.