At Friday prayers, one of the country’s top religious leaders – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, himself a former president — voiced new doubts about the results of the recent presidential election, which returned Ahmadinejad to power. He said those doubts “are now consuming us.”

Ervand Abrahamian, a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the current situation in Iran and a shakeup in the country’s nuclear program.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Arang Keshavarzian, an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University and an editor of the Middle East Report Journal, joins Martin Savidge to discuss news coverage of Iran and what other forms of protests might emerge.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

There were other signs that the government’s position towards the protestors is hardening. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared on state television and stated empathically, again,  that there would be no new presidential election.  In an effort to portray business as usual, Iranian authorities allowed reporters to attend President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first official meeting in Iran since the controversial election.

Afshin Molavi, a fellow with the New America Foundation and the author of “The Soul of Iran,” joins Martin Savidge to discuss what role the U.S. and other countries can play in ending Iran’s conflict and how the protests may evolve.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Former two-term president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who currently heads the Assembly of Experts — which has the authority to oversee the supreme leader — and Ayatollah Khamenei are thought to have a strained relationship.

Throughout the campaign, Rafsanjani was very critical of President Ahmedinejad. Recently, his daughter, Faezed Hashemi, was arrested while speaking to a crowd of hundreds at a rally in support of Ahmedinejad’s main rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Geneive Abdo of The Century Foundation joins Martin Savidge to discus the power structure in the Islamic Republic and how important the clerical struggle really is.

When several hundred protesters gathered in a Tehran square on Monday, riot police moved in, attacking the crowd with tear gas and firing live bullets in the air.

Ten days after Iran’s disputed presidential election, the Guardian Council — the country’s highest authority — acknowledged that there were voting problems in 50 election districts. However, it said these problems will not affect the outcome of the election.

Below, view a slideshow of recent events in Iran from an anonymous journalist with Tehran Bureau:

One Twitter user listed as living in Iran describes his/her hope for the future:

when you stand on the roof and hear allahu akbar for hours and hours its so crazy..i hear old man..so many years he wants to yell that. my country needs no more killing…no more violence ..no more fighting ..just living in peace and freedom forever. in many years people will forget about this time about me and neda they will be free to forget. free to do anything

“Neda” was a young girl who was shot during a protest. The video of her death has captured the world’s attention and is said to be circulating widely in Iran. Many Web sites have already labeled her a martyr.

Another Twitter user wrote of the girl:

If regime topples in Iran, new govt should build a statue to #Neda. Her death has galvanized everyone.

Watch the video of “Neda” below. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES. Viewer discretion is advised.

The description accompanying the video (unverified):

Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes. The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know.

Another Twitter user asks Iranians to help out:

Ppl - stop to pay all electricity, gas, water, telephone bills from today - this will starve the Gov. Tehran is burning with the blood of our Martyrs - The streets are full of dead. if u wantto help but are frightened of the streets - give blood - that is big help.

An Iranian-American college student currently in northern Iran describes her emotions:

Everyone seems to think that blood has to be spilled in order to change anything. Although the protests are properly peaceful, the Basij police are not.

Blood has been spilled, and I am sure more will be spilled today. The question is how big a change it will make.

[...]The thing I most want to do is go home. I came to Iran to see its beautiful side, but the country and even my family have shown their ugliest faces. Their ugliest faces.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Iran’s supreme leader also blamed Americans, the British and Zionists for the turmoil in his country, and once again criticized the United States for its support of Israel. Israel considers Iran its greatest existential threat.

Ronen Bergman, one of Israel’s leading investigative journalists and author of “The Secret War With Iran,” joins Martin Savidge to discuss the Israeli government’s take on the current showdown in Iran and how it may come to an end.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Gaurav Mishra

The Iranian government has restricted all journalists working for foreign news organizations from reporting on the streets of Tehran, where thousands have been gathering to protest the country’s disputed presidential election. What’s been harder to control is social media tools like Twitter, where thousands of users post and share information worldwide.

Gaurav Mishra is the co-founder of social media research and analytics company 20:20 Web Tech and a 2009 Fellow at the Society for New Communications Research. He previously taught social media at Georgetown University and co-founded Vote Report India. He joined Worldfocus to discuss the role of Twitter in the aftermath of Iran’s election.

Worldfocus: What role has Twitter played in the aftermath of Iran’s election? Has there been a “Twitter Revolution”?

Gaurav Mishra: The story which I’m reading in the media is that of the “Twitter Revolution.” And the story is that Twitter is one of the key things used to organize these protests, and the State Department is contacting Twitter to make sure it doesn’t go down, and so on and so forth. That’s the wrong story — it’s the wrong story in Iran, it was the wrong story in Moldova. There is no “Twitter Revolution.” We haven’t seen a “Twitter Revolution,” and I don’t think we’ll ever see a “Twitter Revolution.”

The revolution in Iran is not about Twitter. It’s about Iranian people protesting against perceived irregularities in the election. It’s a grassroots movement, and we’re abusing it in many ways by calling it a Twitter Revolution. It’s a big country with one of the biggest elections around the world, and clearly Mousavi supporters and Ahmadinejad supporters — all of them — have huge offline networks who are getting people to mobilize, getting support and getting people to come out and protest. We are underestimating the value of that network in a country like Iran or a country like India or China — that is a network which culturally matters. Even in the U.S., that is a network that matters. So we’re really underestimating the value of that network by saying this is a “Twitter Revolution.”

On a scale of one to 10, if 10 means it is a legitimate revolution, I would say Twitter as an organizing tool is at five or six.

Twitter does play a very important role in some other areas. It has played an extremely important role in fixing the world’s attention on the crisis, both in terms of getting individuals like you and me to focus on the crisis, and also in getting the attention of the international media and making sure this crisis gets the amount of coverage it deserves to get. The #cnnfail meme on Saturday, which basically asked why the protests were not on the front page of CNN — that’s a very clear example that the activists know what they’re doing. They’re using Twitter to focus international attention on Iran, and to put this on the media’s agenda.

Twitter users voiced their anger at the lack of media coverage of Iran.

It’s very interesting — I see different stories happening. First is the story of the protest itself, and that’s a very big, legitimate story in itself. Then there’s the story about how Twitter and Facebook are being used to organize the protests. I think that’s a fake story. It distracts from the real issue, from the real story of these protests happening in Iran, which are the biggest protests since the 1970s. And it’s dangerous — we are telling them this is an organizing tool; that you can use this tool to organize protests. That’s not the case, because in countries like India or Iran, only single-digit percentages of people use Twitter. Clearly it’s not an organizing tool.

The mobile phone is an organizing tool and e-mail is an organizing tool, because everybody has mobile phones in these countries. And the first thing you do if you want to organize a protest is send a text message to everybody in your address book. That’s how these protests are being organized in all likelihood, not via Twitter.

Worldfocus: How have traditional blogs fared in Iran compared to micro-blogging tools like Twitter?

The #iranelection feed on Twitter.

Gaurav Mishra: We’ve seen that in all types of crisis situations — whether it’s the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the China earthquake, or the Moldova protests, or elections in India or Iran — in all these kinds of big events, Twitter is great at giving alerts. You’re seeing a news cycle emerge where at first, stories are reported on Twitter. Then, blogs pick them up, they aggregate these stories and expand on these stories. They’re the first slightly detailed sense of what’s happening. And then the news organizations come in, and they write the 30-second piece on this, or do a deep story on it. And then we go into the context phase, where people add context to it and reference old stories — and this again happens both in the mainstream media and on blogs.

And finally it goes through that news cycle, and after that context and analysis happens, people start reacting to these stories, in mainstream media and blogs — and again, the reaction happens on Twitter. So if you go through the whole news cycle, what’s happening is that in the alert stage, and in the conversation stage, Twitter plays a very important role. But in the stage of developing the story, giving it context, giving it analysis, blogs and mainstream media still play a very important role. Twitter very clearly doesn’t have a role in developing the story, giving it context and analyzing why is it important.

Worldfocus: Why is it seemingly more difficult for the Iranian government to control Twitter compared to blogs and Facebook?

Gaurav Mishra: Here’s the interesting thing about censorship and control. Typically how governments censor Web content is to ban specific URLs or specific IP addresses. So they would ban the Facebook IP address or the Twitter IP address or the blogger.com IP address or the wordpress.com IP address.

In countries where most of the bloggers are on blogger.com, once you’ve blocked blogger.com, you’ve basically blocked all the blogs in that country. However, people like me host blogs on our own URLs and on our own servers. Therefore, unless the government has a database of all the blogs which are self-hosted, they can’t really block all blogs. You can block a blogging platform easily, but it’s very difficult to block individual blogs which are self-hosted. Facebook is fairly easy to block because most people who use Facebook actually go to Facebook and use it there.

Twitter is interesting because most people who use Twitter don’t actually go to the twitter.com Web site. Most people who use Twitter go to something like TweetDeck, which is a desktop application, or one of the thousands of desktop applications to use Twitter. Or they use it via text messages. So even though you can block the twitter.com Web site, you can’t really block Twitter usage, because people can send and receive text messages, people can get tweets and send tweets on applications and it’s very difficult to block.

On all these things, whether it’s blogs, social networking sites, news Web sites, Twitter, of course there are fairly simple ways to go around the censorship. People who are technically sophisticated find it trivial to go around censorship using circumvention tools.

Worldfocus: Some Twitter users outside Iran have begun a campaign to change their profile location to Tehran, in order to shield Iranian Twitterers from government detection. Do Twitter users in Iran need this protection? And has it impeded or confused the flow of information from on the ground?

Twitter users outside Iran have begun a campaign to change their profile location to Tehran.

Gaurav Mishra: I think they do need this protection, because what’s happening in Iran is that a lot of people are joining Twitter, because they’re hearing about this. I saw some stats — a large number of people, some hundred, are joining every hour. The number of Twitter users in Iran is low, less than 10,000. Which means that when Twitter users join from Iran, it’s very easy to track them. Sometimes people don’t understand the complexity of this, and they reveal their location information. Then it becomes easy to profile them. I think it comes from a good place, this movement to change your Twitter location/handle to Iran to confuse Iranian authorities who might be looking to profile people.

I do think the Iranian government has more important things to do. I’m sure they have a very sophisticated database of known dissenters, and they will first go after these people. These people who are joining Twitter — they are pretty low on the list of the Iranian government in terms of cracking down on them.

I think it’s overkill, but comes from a good place. Of course it harms the information flow. The only way you can make sense of the Iran feed right now, the #iranelection feed, is filtering by location. This misguided movement precludes the possibility of making any sense of what is happening now. It also precludes the possibility for academics to go back and make sense of it after it has happened. In the Moldova “Twitter Revolution,” a lot of people went back and saw all the tweets related to Moldova. They found that of the 700 people who were tweeting about Moldova, only 200 people were actually from Moldova. So it becomes very difficult for people to do that kind of analysis when the location information itself is misguiding. It’s harmful to do this in a way, because it breaks the validity of information and introduces more noise. But I think it comes from a good place, so I’m not criticizing the people who are trying to do this. Different people have different perspectives on what is important.

Worldfocus: We’ve seen a lot of mainstream media sources quoting Twitter users in recent days. Are traditional media outlets embracing Twitter more so than in the past?

View an interactive map of the Iranian blogosphere from The Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Gaurav Mishra: News organizations can’t hope to break stories anymore, in the same way you’re used to breaking stories, because you have limited bureaus outside the U.S., and there are millions of people with mobile phones out there who become accidental reporters, who just happen to be at the right place at the right time and happen to take a photo or a video or send a text message. What news organizations can do is hire people who understand these tools, who actively identify bloggers and Twitter users. The only way news organizations can catch up is by having these curators, who highlight news and the unconfirmed reports, and then who go back and try and verify these reports and add context to them, saying “This news came from somebody on Twitter, but this is what it means, and we verified it.”

What’s happening in Iran is nothing new. We’ve seen this happen before, we’ve seen this happen in multiple locations. We should stop calling these things “Twitter Revolutions.” Again and again we call these things “Twitter Revolutions,” and Twitter is not at the center of revolution.

Now, not only do citizens use [Twitter], but also political parties use it. In a country like India or Iran where most people are not on the Internet, political parties — especially the challengers, the incumbents don’t use it so much. Ahmadinejad did not usually use these tools, the Republicans in the U.S. didn’t really use these tools — but Democrats used it, Mousavi used it. These are great levelers that allow you to level the playing field with people in control of traditional media. I’ve seen this work in election campaigning, I’ve seen this work in protests — it’s the same dynamics happening in different situations, used by different kinds of people. We should start looking at it realistically and stop being surprised every time this happens.

- Katie Combs

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Mir-Hossein Mousavi — the challenging reformist candidate who many claim to be the true winner — will meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Guardian Council on Saturday, along with two other losing candidates.

Numerous demonstrators have reportedly been physically abused by the Revolutionary Guard since the start of the street protests.

Ervand Abrahamian, a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York, joins Martin Savidge to discuss what the future may hold for this post-election tumult.

A journalist with Tehran Bureau who wishes to remain anonymous sends a description of recent happenings to Worldfocus:

On Wednesday, another huge throng (several tens of thousands of protesters) marched peacefully from Haft-e-Tir Square to Enqelab Square in central Tehran — in silence (no slogan-chanting), dressed in black (for mourning) and green (for Mousavi), carrying flowers and the following types of placards:

- blown-up photos of the dead & wounded in past days (from photos circulating on the Internet)

- the text of a constitutional article that states “all peaceful demonstrations are allowed” under the law

- caricatures of Ahmadinejad with a Hitler-like moustache

- sympathy messages for the families of the fallen

- slogans printed on banners, such as: (phrases rhyme in Farsi)

• “Election, not selection”
• “Coup d’etat state, step down!”
• “Liar! Where’s your 63 percent?” (i.e., of votes)
• “Cheating — 1 or 2 percent, not 53 percent!”
• “Wretched Mahmoud — you still call it football?” (in reference to his answer to Christiane Amanpour, comparing protesters to dissapointed soccer fans)

Today’s march is slated for Toopkhaneh Square to the Grand Bazaar (South Tehran). It appears that a different route & different district is chosen everyday, so to increase visibility among Tehran’s 15 million residents. Of course, all routes chosen so far are large and busy thoroughfares, which is causing heavy traffic.

A protest in front of the U.N. mission is also planned for earlier in the day.

Energy for protests seems to be gaining momentum, because every day more people learn about the peaceful nature of the marches and their massive attendance and join in for the next day’s. More importantly, fear of police intervention in these marches has subsided, as police simply stand by and watch.

Interestingly, info is now spreading by word-of-mouth on the street. Strangers literally tell each other about the next day’s march location, from car to car and passerby to passerby. Some are printing & distributing infosheets on the streets as well (the type of info found on chain e-mails, to give to those who may not have Internet access).

There are increasing reports of raids on private homes to take away satellite dishes. People are increasingly turning to radio as a source of news.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

The Iranian authorities continue to crack down on the opposition, with reports of new arrests. There were also new warnings from the Revolutionary Guard against Web sites and bloggers spreading word about the dispute.

Suzanne DiMaggio, the director of policy studies at The Asia Society, joins Martin Savidge to discuss Iran’s accusation, the flow of information from Iran and how events may play out.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Iran’s media said that several people were killed in Monday’s protests, held by supporters of the opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The demonstrations represented one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s Islamic government since it came to power three decades ago.

Mousavi’s supporters held another peaceful rally on Tuesday, as did thousands backing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Geneive Abdo, a fellow in foreign policy at The Century Foundation, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the recount, how the protests will play out and the long-term impact on the Iranian political landscape and Iranian-American relations.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

There have been protests worldwide against the results of the Iranian election — including in France.

After election results in Iran declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner, many in and out of the country were quick to call foul. Protests ensued in the streets of Tehran and around the world.

President Obama has voiced ”deep concerns” over accusations of election fraud, but has refused to denounce the election, saying “It is not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling [...] in Iranian elections.”

In an open letter to President Obama, Worldfocus contributing blogger Nader Uskowi – a Washington-based Iran analyst and consultant – critiques the president’s approach to Iran.

Dear Mr. President,

I was an early supporter of your presidential campaign throughout the primaries and the general election. Along with hundreds of other supporters in Virginia, I worked tirelessly to deliver the state to you after more than 40 years of Republican presidential victories. I supported your vision of change on domestic and foreign policies, including your call to directly engage the Iranian government to abide by its obligations on the nuclear issue and to halt its support of terrorism.

Sir,

When confronted with the realities on the ground, any good policy or plan needs and must be revised. Your, and our, Iran policy is being challenged by the current realities in the country. In the past four days, the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad government has disregarded the aspirations of the citizens and their basic rights. The students and the youths of the country are being killed, injured and imprisoned. Iranian citizens are calling for change, inspired to a large degree by the message of hope that you, Mr. President, gave them in your Cairo speech.

Mr. President,

There is now a compelling new factor that needs to be added to process of normalization of relations with Iran: the government’s handling of the largest social and political movement in the history of the Islamic Republic. Our government must demand the government in Tehran to guarantee the safety and security of its citizens during their peaceful demonstrations against the outcome of the election.

Normalization of relations with Iran needs to recognize the realities on the ground, which have changed radically in the past few days by a social movement with historic proportions. The normalization process should proceed in a way that will not alienate millions of young citizens whose call for change was inspired by your message of hope. We cannot and should not limit the process to nuclear and terrorism issues. The Iranian people are crying out for change, reminiscent of our days of campaigning here in this country. We must take a moment to remember the broader principles of our democratic society, and support the millions of Iranian citizens that seek to acquire them.

Respectfully Yours,

Nader Uskowi

To read more, see the original post.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user h de c under a Creative Commons license.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

The demonstrations by supporters of pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi were described as the largest since the results were announced, and they were largely peaceful. The election dispute gained another dimension after Iran’s supreme leader ordered an investigation of Mousavi’s claims that the election had been stolen.

Ervand Abrahamian, a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the election results, allegations of fraud and how this complicates U.S. President Barack Obama’s desire to start a dialogue with Iran.

Iranian police have cracked down on foreign media covering the protests,and some protesters even shooed away secret police from foreign reporters. But as governments try to curtail the flow of information, citizen journalists have used new Internet technology to bypass restrictions.

Blogger Sanaz Arjomand observes the situation from northern Iran:

The rest of my family lament the “democracy” in Iran and get angry about the obvious taqqalob, or cheating. What I’ve heard most often is that the Rahbar (Supreme Leader) hand-picked Ahmadinejad anyway, that it was obvious that they would cheat and that they themselves would have to suffer for four more years.

In the teeny little town of Maragheh, in northeastern Iran, Ahmadinejad supporters are out in the street. But in Tehran and other bigger towns, it’s chaos. BBC Persia was showing beatings in the street and huge protests (like a river, my cousin said, they kept flowing). What I found interesting is that unlike the campaigning I wanted to post about earlier, these protests are taking place on foot. People are not hiding behind their steering wheels or zooming around on motorcycles. Instead of the “Ahmadi bye-bye!” chants (and many, many more clever ones that I’ll remember to post soon), the young crowd was shouting: Moussavi, Moussavi, ray-e ma ra pass bedee! (Moussavi, Moussavi, return our votes!)

Mousavi postponed rally plans, and the government continues its crackdown. A young Iranian student reports:

A friend of mine emailed me these lines from the University of Tehran campus where there have been wide protests: “We are in the campus my friend, tear gas is being thrown at us like a heavy snow fall, the entire building I am in right now is filled with gas. Two of my friends were wounded thirty minutes ago. There is fire everywhere. I thought I came here to study but there is nothing here but war. I can only tell you this so you’d share it on Facebook. I tried using a proxy to access Facebook but its still not possible. Thanks so much. And by the way, please don’t mention my name because there have been wide arrests everywhere.

[...] I have been numb, speechless and in tears for the past few days. These kids are Iran’s brightest students. I went to school with them. We ate lunch together and shared our sandwiches. What is happening to them?

Gary Sick, a former member of the National Security Council, writes on his Tumblr blog:

If the reports coming out of Tehran about an electoral coup are sustained, then Iran has entered an entirely new phase of its post-revolution history. One characteristic that has always distinguished Iran from the crude dictators in much of the rest of the Middle East was its respect for the voice of the people, even when that voice was saying things that much of the leadership did not want to hear…The current election appears to repudiate both of those rules. The authorities were faced with a credible challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who had the potential to challenge the existing power structure on certain key issues. He ran a surprisingly effective campaign, and his “green wave” began to be seen as more than a wave. In fact, many began calling it a Green Revolution. For a regime that has been terrified about the possibility of a “velvet revolution,” this may have been too much.

Allahpundit wonders if Obama’s administration might just “accept” the Iranian election results:

What if Obama did walk away, though? There’s actually another possibility here: Western leaders protest the result by ending negotiations and refusing to recognize Ahmadinejad as president, which in turn encourages protesters to keep up their agitation for several more months. Paralyzed and afraid of being overthrown, the regime becomes so desperate that it agrees to give up the nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of all sanctions and renewed diplomatic ties with the U.S. in hopes that the economic turnaround produced by the influx of foreign capital will placate the people. The dilemma for The One here is that he campaigned on the moronic assumption that Iran might conceivably be willing to make a deal on nukes if we just talked nice to them or sweetened our offer a bit. Now comes the moment of truth: Does he really believe that? Does he honestly believe, after years of stonewalling, with the country maybe a year away from being able to build a bomb, that they’re going to throw in the towel now? If not, then walk away. There’s no downside and potentially a tremendous upside if the regime falls or a grateful Mousavi ends up being installed as president. And needless to say, from a moral standpoint, he’d be on the side of the angels. Conflict with the regime is inevitable; if the Iranian public’s willing to fight our battle for us, let’s support them with all we’ve got.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Bloggers around the world are expressing surprise at the vitality of the Iranian public. For weeks, the campaign has featured painted activists and heated debates. The pivotal issues in this election include diplomacy with the U.S. and economic reforms. Due to heavy turnout, voting has been extended, and the tallies will begin coming in throughout the night.

Sanaz Arjomand writes from Maragheh in northern Iran:

The general trend seems to be that Mousavi is the best of the bad choices (which reminds me of Bush vs. Kerry), especially in large cities. Because Ahmadinejad has been handing out chickens and potatoes in the rural areas, though, his backing is still fairly strong. The outcome depends mostly on whether the population of youth (about 70%) or the population of poorer Iranians makes a stronger showing at the polls. The thing that I’ve noticed the most, however, is that nobody has any hope that the election will turn out the way they hope (i.e. Mousavi supporters are sure Ahmadinejad will cheat and win, and Ahmadinejad supporters are dismayed by the fanfare surrounding Mousavi’s campaign), nor any hope that this election will really change anything.

Either way, my Iranian birth certificate is in my purse and I’m ready to cast my vote. As they were singing on the streets of Tehran, “Ahmadi bye-bye!”

The media buzz suggests that women and young people are largely casting votes against Ahmadinejad. Mousavi’s wife has attracted huge crowds at campaign rallies. Marzieh Ghiasi, an Iranian in Canada, enthusiastically comments on a historic vote:

While cynicism remains strong and every candidate can be criticized and rightfully so, I can’t help but admire those who go to the polls to make a sincere effort towards a better tomorrow. They go with optimism and the hope that promises that have been made will be delivered. Whatever the outcome of this election, with a vote-turnout that is expected to reach into 80% (pretty incredible!), I am most glad that Iranians are so passionate about the opportunity to vote and take their fate into their own hands. I hope the same kind of fervor and call to responsibility is carried on in the post-election era because as it goes… any day without apathy is a good day.

A Turkish blogger, Sinan Kolat, describes the symbolism of this election from his vantage point in Istanbul.

It seems as the tables have turned as the color green, the symbol of Islam, is now the color of reform. Mousavi’s campaign uses it well and the youth in the streets of Tehran have been demonstrating fiercely under their new symbol. The photos coming from the country shows the change and hope, with women['s] hair clearly visible. Just like wearing a turban is a political, rather than religious, symbol in Turkey; not wearing a turban is a political symbol in Iran.

Hamid Taqvaee, the current leader of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, is seen as one of the most vocal and radical figures opposed to the Islamic Republic:

Only the factions closest to the state and only those given the go ahead by Khamenei, the supreme spiritual leader, can participate. The rest are excluded. Only the closest insiders can run and that is why the final few candidates are always pillars of the regime…Look at this election – from Ahmadinejad, Karoubi, Mousavi to Rezai – all have been instrumental in the repression and executions that have taken place.

Even many in their own ‘second Khordad’ or ‘reformist’ faction are not allowed to participate in the election. If in Turkey or Pakistan a Council of Guardians decided on who could run, the election would be canceled! In other elections, if a candidate gets less television airtime than another, complaints are made to rectify the situation. Now if you compare the situation in Iran with that of Sweden or Denmark or France, you will see that even in the first instance what happens in Iran is anything but an election!

Campaigners and voters have shown tremendous passion for the political process and debates. Mahaan, an Iranian-American blogger, suggests:

It has been an unbelievable 2 weeks in Iran. Hot series of TV debates and constant party mode on the streets which was the best sample of tolerance and respect among the citizens, gave all of us a surprising image of our society. Independent of it, this election has given a new shape to the Iranian political and civil discourse.

The sucky part was the low key coverage that the western media gave to these events. Until last Wednesday, the coverage was minimal and even after that, it never reached the level that many smaller Iranian events (small student protest, or Roxana Saberi’s court) were covered. Maybe this relates to a higher level western policy of silence and respect that exist these days with respect to this election.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discusses the election and what it may mean for the United States.

For more, view our Voices of Iran extended coverage page and listen to our online radio show on Baha’i faith and modern Iran.

Ahmadinejad appeared in a debate on Monday with another conservative candidate who is a former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard, while supporters of both men held rallies on the streets of Tehran.

Below, view a slideshow of Iran’s election fever:

A blogger at “Tehran Post” describes how the debates have invigorated the country:

As you might know private television channels are forbidden by the law in Iran. In general, power-holders are really touchy about any media that could challenge their authority.

However, presidential elections in Iran are a chance for people to find out about diverse, mostly dissident political views in the state-run TV and get relieved from the official political propaganda that could not be cornier. Candidates are allotted equal time to talk about their plans with the citizens.

Campaign season in Iran.

[…]When 2 A.M. in the morning Tajrish Square in north of Tehran becomes the scene of gathering of Ahmadinejad and Musavi’s supporters, both celebrating their candidate’s victory, clear it becomes that the debate has been one with a deep impact, one that Iranians remember for a long time. [...] I wish [we] had a presidential election everyday in Iran! The sense of freedom is really great!

An Iranian blogger at “Sidewalk Lyrics” talks about why the election has mobilized Iran’s youth:

I wish I was in Tehran right now. Not because I like a particular candidate. Not because I believe in change or hope or even elections.

But because some election seasons, that dark, haunted city is sprinkled with life and color. Like a flower that blooms to life every few years, only to fall back into a deep, incurable coma for which you are never certain there will be an awakening.

I contemplate what could have been, what should have been but what never is, while it dances vividly all around me and I know that its death, like its birth, I will soon see.

And every time, I can’t help but wonder: maybe, this time around, the ending will be different.

People around the world find it fascinating, pathetic or strange that we Iranian youth have flown into the streets the way we have. We have done so out of desperation, fatigue, hope and curiosity.

Mousavi became prime minister two years before I was born. One year after the war. Two years after a revolution. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed of unimaginable proportions. Times were not easy, for anyone. And there we were, dropped into this world amidst all of that.

I will be a 25 year old tomorrow when I go out to vote. Second chances don’t come easy Mr. President. Whoever you may turn out to be.

Watch a video of Ahmadinejad’s supporters celebrating following one debate from YouTube user kelashinkof:

Blogger “Kamran,” an Iranian expatriate, explains why he plans to vote despite a lack of faith in the candidates:

A short telephone conversation to a couple of friends in Iran yesterday turned into an afternoon-long debate about the upcoming election.

My simple question about the latest campaign news produced brand new jokes about the candidates. They tell me that they have heard all these promises before and remind me that it wasn’t long ago that the president was Khatami.

[…]I will take a 45 minute train trip to go to Iranian embassy in The Hague to vote.  I don’t believe in these people and do not think any of the candidates can solve the enormous challenges we face, but I am still voting. During the past thirty years, our rights as Iranian citizens have been constantly under attack. This has been true despite many promises of protection and invitations to engage in the building of our society.

I am voting with the hope that not only the hardline government will change, but that we will build a more democratic society where women’s rights, a free press, free speech, and human rights are not a dream. Last 4 years proved our right can be in more danger than we could even imagine.

Being part of this initiative was unthinkable for me just four years ago. Four years of right-wing Ahmadinejad has put Iran on a downward path. I believe that Iranian expats should play a more constructive role and not keep waiting for some magical transformation of power.

Photos courtesy of Flickr users under a Creative Commons license.

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