I did my assigned blog on the election in 2008 in Iran and the effects of that election. It was a parliamentary election that was held on March 14, 2008. It was as expected with conservative candidates maintaining control of the Iranian parliament. There was then a follow up election of sorts on April 25, 2008. This election basically solidified the conservative parties’
hold on the parliament.
The election in March went in the favor of the conservatives that supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad mainly because of the fact that in the December before the elections 1,700 candidates were barred from running by the Guardian council on the grounds that they were not sufficiently loyal to the Iranian revolution. The barred members were made up of about 90% of the independent reformist candidates. The following is a graph of the election results. (Iranian election)
The barring of many of the reformist candidates caused an uproar in the west as the elections were seen by many as a “victory that showed the Iranian’s defiance of the West.” The United States and Europe called the elections unfair after most of the reformists were barred from the election. At the last count after the final election on April 25 the number of reformists had won about 14 seats bringing the count to about 45 seats for the reformists. If that count was correct than the reformist presence in the Iranian parliament is about the same as it was in the outgoing parliament.
In 2009 Iran held it’s presidential elections and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as president. Mr. Ahmadinejad received above 62% of the votes and Mousavi received about 34% of the votes in a country where half of the 70 million inhabitants are eligible to vote. The runner up, Hussein Mousavi, has questioned the credibility of the election, leading to widespread protests and riots. The worst came when a bomb exploded outside the tomb of one of the revolution pioneers. The elite revolutionary guard easily quelled the chaos but the unrest points to some serious after affects for not only the government but for Iran its self. Election analysis’s report that much of Ahmadinejad’s support came from the rural population, where the runner up got his from the populated cities and Iran’s educated youth. Voting trends show that the president will now have to deal with the educated youth as a watchdog for his actions and the government’s performance.
Source 1 :WEB SITE
Source 2 : Iranian Election
Source 3 : 2009 Elections
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