Iran's Election and US-Iranian Relations

In the run-up to Iran's June 12 presidential election, early indications suggested the media's reaction if the wrong candidate won. On June 7, New York Times writer Robert Worth reported "a surge of energy (for) Mir Hussein Mousavi, a reformist who is the leading contender to defeat Mr. Ahmadinejad (and) a new unofficial poll (has him well ahead) with 54 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him compared with 39 percent for Mr. Ahmadinejad." No mention of who conducted the poll, how it was done, what interests they represented, or if Mousavi winning might be the wrong result. More on that below.

Writing for the influential far right Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Fariborz Ghadar described the contest as "pit(ting) the hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against two relatively moderate and one conservative challenger." In spite of one or more independent polls showing Ahmadinejad way ahead, he suggested that "the outcome (isn't) all that clear." More on the poll results below.

The Wall Street Journal sounded a similar tone in calling Ahmadinejad's opponents "two reformists and one conservative (who) criticized his government for its lack of tolerance. Each has promised more personal and social freedom if elected."

Newsweek quoted Iranian historian Mohammed Javad Mozafar saying:

On June 13, Robert Worth and Nazila Fathi in The New York Times headlined: "Protests Flare in Tehran as Opposition Disputes Vote," then described "the most intense protests in a decade....with riot police officers using batons and tear gas against opposition demonstrators who claimed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had stolen the presidential election."

The Wall Street Journal called the election "a sham" and cited the AP reporting that "election authorities were miraculously able to count millions of paper ballots (in just hours) after the polls closed to hand Mr. Ahmadinejad his supposed victory." It quoted writer Laura Secor in the New Yorker saying: "What is most shocking is not the fraud itself, but that it was brazen and entirely without pretext." 

Perhaps she meant "precedent," but either way she ignored two stolen US elections for George Bush and the shameful media response to them.

Also disturbing are more moderate, supposedly even-handed, and progressive US voices. On June 13, Stephen Zunes asked "Has the Election Been Stolen in Iran?" Again with no evidence he wrote:

The Nation magazine has had a shameful record since inception. In more recent years, it called the US-led NATO Serbia-Kosovo aggression "humanitarian intervention." Initially it supported the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war in its run-up and early months. In 2000 and 2004, it ignored blatant electoral fraud for George Bush. It attacks Hugo Chavez, and was hostile to Jean-Bertrand Aristide during his years as Haiti's President. It called the 2008 US presidential campaign the "Obama Moment" for his "historic candidacy" and keeps supporting him despite his brazen betrayal of voters who elected him.

Now it's at it again in a June 13 Robert Dreyfuss article headlined, "Iran's Ex-Foreign Minister Yazdi: It's a Coup" in which (without no substantiating evidence) he called the election "rigged," referred to Ahmadinejad as "radical-right," and said "his paramilitary backers were kept in office." Now "Iran's capital (is) steeped in anger, despair, and bitterness" as he almost cheerled for a "color revolution" with comments like:

More on that below, but first some background. Four candidates participated, each of whom was vetted and approved by Iran's Guardian Council and most importantly Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - a system similar to America where democracy is illusory because party bosses choose candidates, big money controls them, key outcomes are predetermined, horse race journalism and media hype substitute for honest coverage, independent voices are suppressed, vital issues go unaddressed, voter disenfranchisement is rife, and corporate-run electronic voting machines decide winners, not the electorate.

In Iran, the Guardian Counsel's approved candidates seek closer relations with America and less confrontation. In deference to Iran's business and elitist interests, they favor austerity measures against Iranian workers. In March, Ahmadinejad's budget called for reduced spending by eliminating subsidies on water, fuel and electricity but kept "targeted" ones in place for the nation's poor.

On November 6, Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama on his election and wrote: "The great civilization-building and justice-seeking nation of Iran would welcome major, fair and real changes, in policies and actions, especially in this region." On February 10, he said he was willing to negotiate "in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect," short of surrendering Iranian sovereignty. Given 30 years of confrontation since 1979, it's doubtful that's enough, despite recent hints of rapprochement from Washington.

The four candidates included:

One or more independent pre-election polls conducted several weeks before June 12 provide evidence of Ahmadinejad's strong victory, and it shouldn't surprise. It was comparable to his sweeping 2005 runoff win in which he trounced former President Rafsanjani as explained above. This time, no second round was needed because only two dominant candidates contested. The others needn't have bothered as final results showed.

Although Iran is a theocracy with standards leaving a lot to be desired, it's one of the few Middle East countries holding real elections, unlike regional monarchies or dictatorial states like Egypt where Hosni Mubarak has ruled for nearly 30 years and wins easily with well over 90% of the "vote" in little more than a sham process.