[Pen-l] The issue is not "fraud" but freedom

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Elections in Iran, of course, are not free because no opponents of the 
“Islamic Revolution” are allowed to stand (unlike in Venezuela, of 
course, where opponents of Chavez could even collect signatures for a 
referendum to have him removed from office). Real power rests with the 
Council of Guardians which is a 12 man body made up of six high ranking 
Islamic clerics and six Islamic lawyers, selected by the Leader 
(currently Khamenei). It stands above the ‘parliament’ and can dismiss 
laws passed by it on the basis that they are unIslamic or against the 
Constitution of the Islamic Republic. Of the 400 people who put their 
names forward only four were accepted. Needless to say the 42 women 
candidates were rejected.

These results appear highly questionable, but even if the 64% vote were 
accurate, it would do nothing to alter the fact that the elections are 
not democratic in any acceptable sense of the term. It has been clear 
for a number of years now that young people in particular have been 
chafing at the petty restrictions imposed upon them by a state which 
imposes its religion and mores on them.

full: http://martinwicks.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/with-friends-like-these/
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