Important Things to Know About Iran's Election

Twitter riots, Hezbollah and possibly Amal shock troops on the streets, and voting results are the latest rage in the Islamic Republic of Iran. With news being dumped left right and center, there are a few important things to know about the recent disputed election.

1. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cheated but would have won anyway.

Was there fraud in this election? Of course there was (Which elections are completely clean?). President Ahmadinejad had the full backing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who control the flow of movement throughout the country and protect the election ballots. Any Iranian or Arab country under Iranian threat knows the IRGC plays dirty. But this is besides the point. The Western media (the biggest offender being the Washington Post-owned publication Foreign Policy) based their predictions of a "high turnout equals reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi victory" based on reports from the Mousavi camp who based their opinion on reading blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. This flawed sampling method would make a Mousavi victory seem likely. Only a limited segment of Iran uses new media. The poor Persians, industrial Azeris, and tribals do not use new media and these groups tend to like Ahmadinejad for this tough foreign policy stances. The bad polling is much like the 1936 case of Literary Digest claiming President Roosevelt would lose reelection. They conducted their poll by telephone: a device only used by upper-middle class (Republicans) at the time.

2. Mousavi is not a reformist.

The man was prime minister during the Iran-Iraq War. He is not as hard core on women's issues but when it comes to nuclear policy, Israel, the United States, Iranian minorities, etc he is just like Ahmadinejad. The reason why Supreme Leader Ali Hoseyni Khamenei, the real leader of Iran, allowed Mousavi to run for president is because Khamenei knew Mousavi would follow the line and not rock the boat.

3. Iran is the Islamic Republic of Iran (It is not a normal country just with a different viewpoint).

Foreign Policy and the likes of them are confused. In part of their claiming that the election was stolen they state "would a victor act like this?" A better question would be "would an Islamic Republic paranoid of losing power do this?" The answer is yes. Iran's leaders remember how much fun it was to drag the Shah's troops through the streets of Tehran during the Iranian Revolution. Those who dragged and killed the Shah's men know first-hand the horrors they face if there is a role reversal and such a fate is inflicted on them. They will do anything to avoid having a situation. Heck, these are the people who execute homosexuals and minorities in public because they seem them as a threat!

I hope you readers now have a better understanding of what is going on inside Iran.