Via the NYT: Iran’s Leaders Warn Candidate Who Charged Vote Fraud
As the candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, an adviser to the supreme leader and a former Parliament speaker, pressed his claims against conservatives and the military, the front-runner for president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said he supported Mr. Karroubi’s calls for an investigation.In a statement carried by the news media here, Mr. Rafsanjani, a stalwart of the revolution who will be in a runoff on Friday, said he also believed that the first round of voting had been tampered with.
“During the election, we witnessed certain organized interferences aimed at directing peoples’ votes, which is not clear where it would lead if such behavior is institutionalized,” he said, adding that he would like an investigation into the “protest and complaint of my dear brother, Mr. Karroubi, about the election in certain cities.”
I find this to be most interesting. It is one thing for the losers to cry foul, but yet another for one of the first-round winners (who is a former president) to also charge that there were irregularities.
The government is hardly behaving in guiltless fashion, insofar as it closed down two newspaper tht were going to publish Karroubi’s charges.
Karroubi himself has quit his posts with the government and is forming an opposition party.
The question at this juncture, it seems to me, is whether the Guardian Council will feel the need to repress, so as to gain control of the situation, or whether they will eventually have to t relent and liberalize.
The run-off has now become quite important, as it is a clear choice between a moderate and a conservative. Assuming that there is no manipulation of the vote (which may not be a safe assumption) then the outcome will affect Iran’s development–even though the President has limited power.
June 21st, 2024 at 10:08 am
Steven: In relative terms, I guess you’re right about the runoff being between a moderate and a conservative. But it bears keeping in mind that in real terms Rafsanjani is very much a conservative.
June 21st, 2024 at 10:36 am
Well, “conservative” is a relative term. Rafsanjani is for changing, albeit not radically, the status quo. Karroubi, on the other hand, wishes to maintain the status quo and reinforce it.
As such, Rafsanjani is a moderate in Iranian politics.
What he may be in “real” terms is a more complicated discussion, I would argue.
June 21st, 2024 at 9:12 pm
i think rafsanPajami only jumped on the bandwagon so he can retain some pseudoi-legitmacy.
it’s kinda like when frist voted against bolton just so he could reintroduce a cloture vote at some future point.
rafsanPajami wants to appear ‘clean” just in case the mullahs get caught. he’s their ace in the hole.
afyter all, it’s why he postioned himself as a reformer to begin wioth. he’s about as much of a reformer as zawahiri.