Election Results in Iran Incites Uprising
The Iranian Presidential elections held on Friday, June 12th incited an uprising within the country and fueled international debate. This 10th presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution resulted in the premature announcement that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president again. Riots erupted in the street after wide scale allegations of election fraud. This riot, led by the nation’s youth (over 66% of Iranians are under the age of 30) spurred international attention. Rallies, protests, and violent squalls have spread throughout the country as Iranians citizens ask, “Where is my vote?”
Ahmadinejad’s chief opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has declared himself the true winner of the election. In previous elections, tallies began to trickle in hours after the polls closed; this year millions of votes poured in almost immediately from a huge turnout of about 85 percent of Iran’s 46.2 million voters. The final outcome: 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 for Mousavi, a former prime minister from the 1980s. Much of the electorate, however, is unsatisfied with the results.
Ahmadinejad accused the foreign media of producing coverage that harmed the Iranian people, saying “a large number of foreign media … organized a full-fledged fight against our people.”
Authorities also called foreign journalists with visas to cover the elections, including members of The Associated Press, and told them they should prepare to leave the country. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in the clashes in front Mousavi’s headquarters. Their Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman’s tapes, the station said.