Why the Iranian Elections of June 12th could be Fraudulent

The official figures announced by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran attribute 63% of the votes to Mr Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president.  Breaking with a 30 year old tradition, instead of waiting the usual three-day period, set aside for challenges and possible recounts, the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, sanctioned the results only hours after they were announced.  Just as immediately, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s government began systematically shutting off the means of communication, arresting opposition leaders and physically attacking protesters in the streets.  The election results seem dubious and what the Iranian public is asking for is a new election.

In light of the current violent response by the government to the doubts thrown upon the election results, we the Iranian Student Community of Austin with reference to considerable reliable evidence presented below, hereby confirm that the Iranian government has committed widespread electoral fraud in the June 12, 2009 Presidential elections.  Based on the foregoing, we hereby announce our refusal to recognize Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran’s legitimate president and request that the Iranian government conduct new elections.  

In addition, we request that all international organizations and member states of the United Nations refuse to accept Mr. Ahmadinejad as Iran’s legitimate president.  We stress that any invitation extended to him as Iran's official president by such international organizations and member states is a significant affront to the Iranian people’s dignity and their aspirations for democracy and civil rights.

What follows are some facts supporting the possibility of fraud:

1. The main challenger to Mr. Ahmedinejad, Mr. Mousavi's vote count was consistently and almost exactly half that of Mr. Ahmadinejad's during each incremental official announcement.  This is highly unusual given the record of past elections. 
2. In every single past election, each candidate has won his own province.  This was not the case for either Mr. Karroubi or  Mr. Moussavi on June 12th.
3. The official government figures state that, Mr. Moussavi, has received around 34% of the votes.  This result is dubious for various reasons. Throughout his campaign, Mr. Moussavi received the official support of the former reformist president Khatami, who resigned from candidacy to support Mr. Moussavi in this election. There is no evidence that Mr. Khatami, who won more than half the votes in both 1997 and 2001 has fallen this far from grace with the public.
4. The initial violent response to requests for a recount is itself, a possible indication of foul play by the incumbent.
5. Mr Karroubi, the other reformist candidate, ran on a progressive platform.  And yet the official announced result for Mr. Karroubi was around 0.85%.  Indeed, the figure is almost lower than the circulation number for his newspaper and almost twenty times lower than the number of votes that this candidate received in the 2005 election, when he was only 600,000 votes short of beating Mr. Ahmadinejad in the first round of the elections.
6. An open letter was written by a number of employees in the Interior Ministry (ministry in charge of election results), and issued about one week before the elections expressing worries that certain high officials in that ministry were planning to manipulate the election results.
7. Moreover, according to numerous official reports, many of the representatives of the two reform candidates were systematically and repeatedly prevented from being present at poll sites on election-day, a right guaranteed by Iranian law.
8. Finally, a public and official statement issued by the Revolutionary Guards, the strong-arm of the conservative camp, charged Mr. Moussavi and Mr. Karroubi with the attempt to overthrow the Islamic Republic with a revolution. The letter explicitly threatened that the Guards would violently suppress any such movement before it is born.
9. The chief member of the Guardian Council, the official oversight body for the election, appointed by the Supreme Leader and naturally expected to remain impartial in the election process, on many occasions, publicly voiced his support for Mr. Ahmedinejad.

Indeed, the response of the government in the first few days following the Iranian election and the escalation of violence, suggests that the government will not refrain from shooting protesters in the upcoming days.  Hundreds of thousands are in grave danger.  What will ensue if Ahmadinejad is allowed to steal this election is surely a darker future for democracy in Iran.

Community of Iranian students in Austin Texas

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