Iranian Election 2009

Re: Iranian Election Friday

:blink: The office of the President of Iran is purely only a figurehead position. Like Perun already posted, the Supreme Leader Zyed Ali Khameni, is the real power in Iran's government. They are an Islamic Republic and governed by a Theocracy and not a Democracy. The Elections are just a ruse to show the world that they have some kind of democratic process. The President is just a mere mouthpiece.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

But that's not entirely true.  While the Supreme Leader does have a fair bit of power, the President runs the day-to-day government.  Things like infrastructure, taxes, etc.  The Supreme Leader makes sure the government conforms to a certain standard (an Islamic standard), but the President and government do quite a lot.  Just because the President of Iran isn't like the President of the US doesn't mean he is useless.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Teheran is taken by Mousavi storm. The rest (e.g. the city of Qom) is mostly in favor of Ahmad.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Tehran is the largest city by far, though, isn't it?  So if Mousavi wins Tehran and then gets moderate support in other areas, not winning but moderate, it may be enough.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

It's hardly a surprise that Qom supports the conservative candidate - it is the seat of Iranian clergy. It would be more interesting to see what things are like in real cities, like Tabriz, Esfahan or Shiraz.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8096411.stm

BBC is reporting unprecedented turnout.  This should be very interesting indeed.
Interesting quote from the Supreme Leader:

"I recommend them to just vote based on their own views and decisions," Ayatollah Khamenei said as he voted.

"God willing, the best and the most deserving person will be elected as the head of the executive body for a four-year period."
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Re: Iranian Election Friday

I don't trust that supreme leader. With a snap of his finger he can decide the outcome of the elections. Anyway, as expected Ahmad won this farce. With a huge unrealistic difference.

source:

...Mr Mousavi issued a statement shortly after 1300 local time (0930 GMT) on Saturday, after the scale of the hard-line president's victory became clear.

The former prime minister dismissed the election result as deeply flawed.

"I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," the Reuters news agency reported him as saying.

"The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny."

Mr Mousavi has already said there was a shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people had been denied the right to vote.

His election monitors were not allowed enough access to polling stations, he added, saying he would deal seriously with any irregularities.

The head of the Committee to Protect the People's Votes, a group set up by all three opposition candidates, said the group would not accept the result, alleging fraud.

They have asked Iran's Guardian Council - a powerful body controlled by conservative clerics - to cancel the results and re-run the elections.

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says the result has been greeted with surprise and with deep scepticism by many Iranians....
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Mousavi may or may not be right - we have no way of knowing, do we?  But it will be interesting to see if the internal court system works, and what it comes up with.

Iran may not have a modern western democracy, but they do have a very neat form of government: a republic inside of a theocracy.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Don't forget that the president candidates all had to get approval from the Supreme Leader.
To me it all looks like a facade of reality.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Well, noone's pretending it's a modern western democracy.  It *is* a theocracy.  But Iran has the right to their own government, and this one seems fairly supported (for now) by the people.  None of them are pretending otherwise, nobody is pretending this is a perfectly wide-open government like we have in Canada, the Netherlands, the USA, etc.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

LooseCannon said:
But that's not entirely true.  While the Supreme Leader does have a fair bit of power, the President runs the day-to-day government.  Things like infrastructure, taxes, etc.  The Supreme Leader makes sure the government conforms to a certain standard (an Islamic standard), but the President and government do quite a lot.  Just because the President of Iran isn't like the President of the US doesn't mean he is useless.
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A nice one.
I wonder if there were any neutral western observers for these elections...

LooseCannon said:
Well, noone's pretending it's a modern western democracy.  It *is* a theocracy.  But Iran has the right to their own government, and this one seems fairly supported (for now) by the people.  None of them are pretending otherwise, nobody is pretending this is a perfectly wide-open government like we have in Canada, the Netherlands, the USA, etc.
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Here there are some things I would like to add : Regarding USA, there is no objection that institutions there are more than
well established, BUT
1) in every election, the two major parties are too dependent from their sponsors, which simply means
that no lobbies support not once in a million chance to win : This is western democracy's plague pretty much everywhere
and in US this plague tops.
2) the fact that either one of the two major parties will win, doesn't give me an impression of huge variety

Regarding Netherlands as well as a lot of European countries, let's never forget that they still have kings and queens  :D

So to conclude, I don't consider a perfectly wide-open government in US -despite my deep respect for its institutions
In the same fashion, I can't accept as a perfectly wide-open government a democratic country with a Monarch
established as Netherlands is.

like we have in Canada, the Netherlands, the USA, etc.
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The only country qualified is Canada  :P
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

LooseCannon said:
Canada has a Queen.
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:blush:

Forostar said:
Yes, my Head of State has also less to say than the SL.
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Ok so this question goes to both of you : Isn't a little annoying that to you ??
I mean what the hell you're paying them for ? Why you don't get rid of them ?

I never had a king /queen in the places I've been, but as a European Citizen
I find it annoying to still have kings and queens well established in some of the most important member countries
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Her Majesty the Queen of Canada is my monarch.  While she has no power (and even her ceremonial power is executed through the Governor-General), she is an important symbol.  The Governor-General's job is to perform ceremony, and that's it.  So, she frees up the real head of government, the Prime Minister, to do government more of the time.  The GG can do a lot of stuff in his place, go to various locations and represent Canada at ceremonies and functions both at home and abroad.  Her Majesty the Queen is much the same, though she tends to represent Britain most of the time.

So no, it doesn't annoy me at all to have a constitutional monarchy.  I think we are one of the more democratic countries in the world.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

I don't mind a bit of western tradition.

The Royal Family in the Netherlands is popular and has a (at least in my eyes) a healthy relation with our society.

The British Royal Family however, there's more distance I guess. The Queen mom and Diane were nice but both are gone.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

I rather like HRH Queen Elizabeth II.  It'll be a sad day when she dies and we get George VII.  I somewhat hope she outlives Charles so that we get William instead.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

Charles has a bad press. He is a bit of a plonker - in a similar vein to Boris Johnson - but he's actually very clever. My guess is that he knows what a good king is and isn't and will fill the ceremonial role of King for a few years. After all, he's waited his turn. :)

Having said that, William will make an excellent king - he looks and plays the part.
 
Re: Iranian Election Friday

LooseCannon said:
Her Majesty the Queen of Canada is my monarch.  While she has no power (and even her ceremonial power is executed through the Governor-General), she is an important symbol.  The Governor-General's job is to perform ceremony, and that's it.  So, she frees up the real head of government, the Prime Minister, to do government more of the time.  The GG can do a lot of stuff in his place, go to various locations and represent Canada at ceremonies and functions both at home and abroad.  Her Majesty the Queen is much the same, though she tends to represent Britain most of the time.

So no, it doesn't annoy me at all to have a constitutional monarchy.  I think we are one of the more democratic countries in the world.
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Very touching  :) Who's GG by the way ? He's an elected person ??

Forostar said:
I don't mind a bit of western tradition.
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I tend to believe that the real western tradition is democracy with Monarchs established
Except France, Germany and Italy all the rest good reputable countries have a king, queen or both
 
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