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A demonstrator gestures during a vigil outside the Iranian embassy in NY.(Reuters Photo) |
What is the reason behind the current crisis in Iran?
The tenth presidential election in the history of the Islamic Republic was held on June 12. Four candidates – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mirhossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohsen Rezaei – competed for presidency. However, Mousavi, who is widely supported by the youth and middle class, was seen as Ahmadinejad’s main challenger.
But the election’s result fell short of all expectations; Mousavi lost for Ahmadinejad, who won 63 percent of the vote according to official figures. Consequently, the supporters of the losing candidates, particularly Mousavi, took to the streets of Tehran, claiming that Friday’s vote was riddled by fraud. The unrest has been going on for days now, and several casualties among protestors were reported.
Why have events turned violent?
| The unexpected election results fueled an unprecedented wave of popular anger. |
Ahmadinejad’s first tenure was full of tension due to his government’s economic performance, which was described as inefficient by many observers, and his confrontational foreign policy.
Also, his government was accused of corruption after an Iranian National Audit Office report revealed that it did not return to the treasury more than a billion dollars of surplus oil revenues from the 2006-2007 budget.
According to some analysts, all this contributed to the exceptionally high turnout (85 percent) in the June 12 election. The huge number of voters was seen as an indication of a growing desire for change.
Two of the losing candidates – Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi – protested against a number of violations of the law on the election day, listing several complaints about the lack of ballots in a number of polling stations and preventing their supporters from voting.
The results were revealed the next day, and the victory of Ahmadinejad was announced. The unexpected outcome fueled an unprecedented wave of popular anger, particularly among the young supporters of Mousavi.
The Revolutionary Guards and the Basij were deployed to control the protests, which witnessed clashes between the supporters of both Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. After photos of riot-police hitting protestors had been displayed in the media, all Western reporters were prevented from covering the ongoing events.
Also, there has been a series of government crackdowns on Reformist figures and students in universities’ dormitories.
The Supreme Leader’s speech on Friday was described as a sign of the onset of a new phase in the ongoing crisis. Ayatollah Khamenei’s condemnation of street protests implied that the government would deal with protestors violently.
The next day, around 10 people were reportedly killed during clashes between protestors and riot police.
What are the protestors asking for?
Since June 13, protestors have been asking for nullifying the election’s results, and demanding a re-run of the poll. Iran’s Guardian Council promised to carry out a partial recount of votes, which was seen as a step of retreat by the government.
As Mousavi asks his supports to carry on their civil disobedience campaign, the two sides have not reached a settlement yet. The Guardian Council’s spokesman announced on Thursday that the Council would invite the four candidates to take part in an “extraordinary session” on Saturday.
However, Mousavi and Karroubi refused to attend the session, insisting on their initial demand. Iran’s 68-year-old former prime minister announced on Saturday that he was “ready for martyrdom.”
| Germany summoned the iranian ambassador to give an explanation of the events in Iran. |
Are there any precedents of re-running the presidential poll in Iran?
No, there are not. What is happening in Iran is unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic. Experts have been comparing the ongoing clashes to those that preceded Khomeini’s triumphant return to Iran in 1979.
How does the outside world views Iran’s current crisis?
The US president Barack Obama has expressed his “deep concerns about the election,” describing the Supreme Leader’s decision to start an investigation into fraud allegations as a sign of understanding the Iranian people’s concerns. The US president has also criticized the “violence directed at peaceful protestors.”
However, Obama’s reaction to the unrest in Iran was the subject of criticism inside and outside the United States, which urged him to use a more blunt tone on Saturday.
"We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people," Obama said.
According to some views, the condemnation of both houses of Congress of the violence used against Iranian demonstrators has urged the US president to take a more definite stance on the developments in the Islamic Republic.
Germany, one of Iran’s major trade partners, summoned the Iranian ambassador to give an explanation of the events in Iran, and the country’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, deemed the riot police’s reaction to protests “brutal actions.”
The Iranian ambassador in Paris was also summoned to the French Foreign Ministry.
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