The Iranian Regime votes today for a new president out of a list of 4 approved candidates.
The winner must collect 50 percent of the votes plus one. If, however, no single candidate wins enough votes, the run-off will be held on June 19. Tehran is 8 1/2 hours ahead of Washington DC so the polls close at 9:30 am–East Coast time.
The June 12 presidential election is the 10th since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
There are 30 polling stations set up across the United States for Iranian expatriots to cast their vote in today’s election.
Reporters Without Borders says that at least 15 journalists have been threatened or summoned for questioning throughout the country since the start of the campaign. Those journalists were reportedly targeted for criticizing incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranian expert Michael Ledeen describes the most popular personality in today’s election- Zahra Rahnavard the wife of candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi:
But I think Mousavi is different. And the big difference is his wife. As the Times tells us:
The biggest roar of the afternoon was reserved for the main speaker, Zahra Rahnavard, Mr Mousavi’s wife. “You’re here because you don’t want any more dictatorship,” she declared. “You’re here because you hate fanaticism, because you dream of a free Iran, because you dream of a peaceful relationship with the rest of the world.” The candidate himself was nowhere to be seen…
Zahra is a very brave woman.
