ALERT & UPDATE: Death has been reported in Iran. See Tehran Bureau.
There are reports of fraud committed during the Iranian presidential election.
Why are there people believing that fraud has been commited?
In recent days, Mr. Moussavi’s supporters were predicting a wide victory, citing voter surveys. And Mr. Ahmadinejad, the hard-line incumbent, had appeared on the defensive, hurling extraordinary accusations at some of the Islamic republic’s founding figures.
Iran’s Interior Ministry said Saturday that final results gave Mr. Ahmadinejad 62.6 percent of the vote, with Mr. Moussavi receiving 33.7 percent. The ministry says turnout was a record 85 percent of eligible voters.
Though there was no word of Mr. Moussavi’s whereabouts on Saturday, statements on his Web site made clear that he was contesting the official line. [Ahmadinejad Re-Elected; Protests Flare. Robert F. Worth. New York Times. June 13 2009]
An article in Wikipedia however states this:
The opinion polls in Iran have been considered unreliable. A number of polls conducted between relatively small voting groups, like university students and workers, have been reported as election propaganda. More general polls reported in the media do not state the polling organization nor the basic facts about the methodology. The results show a high variance and depend heavily on who is reporting the poll.[Iranian presidential election, 2009: Opinion polls. Wikipedia. Accessed June 13 2009]
It is not quite clear to me if it is a case of fraud or a case of where the loser refuses to accept defeat. But in any case, the way the presidential elections are ran in Iran does not command confidence: only candidates pre-approved by a cabal are allowed to contest.[1]
[1] — See President of Iran at Wikipedia. Accessed June 12 2009]
p/s — after reading the issue and the latest developing closely, I believe this could easily be an opportunity for a liberal revolution in Iran.
pp/s — Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan presents the case for fraud.
