Iran Watch: U.S. State Department – Ahmadinejad “THWARTED”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shows his ink-stained finger after casting his ballot in Tehran in this December 15, 2006 file photo. Iran’s biggest reformist party said on Monday Ahmadinejad had suffered a ‘decisive defeat’ in nationwide elections last week due to his government’s ‘authoritarian and inefficient methods’.
AFP: Ahmadinejad ‘thwarted’ in Iranian elections: US
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looks to have been thwarted from keeping his ultra-conservative allies in control of key offices despite efforts to “cook the books” in weekend elections, the State Department said.
The elections for municipal councils and a powerful religious assembly saw Ahmadinejad loyalists suffer setbacks at the hands of more moderate candidates in a number of key races, including for seats on the Tehran city council.
“It would seem that they are not the results that President Ahmadinejad would have hoped for,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said when asked to comment on the vote.
“I think, despite the regime’s efforts to cook the books in terms of an outcome, they seem to have been thwarted in that regard,” he said.
While noting the high voter turnout in Friday’s election, McCormack said there had been “some fundamental flaws” in the polls, “in which there were numerous candidates that were excluded from even running.”
“So the people didn’t have that choice to make,” he said.
Looks like Ahmadinejad has trouble at home with his constituencies.
An Iranian student holds an anti-president placard, reading: “Fascist President, Polytechnich is not your placeâ€, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, unseen, speaks at the Amir Kabir Technical University, in Tehran, Iran.
In the meantime, there are apparent winners:
Iranian former presidents Mohammad Khatami (L) and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani casts his ballot at a polling station in Tehran on December 15. Ultra-conservative allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are lagging in key election battlegrounds after gains by moderate conservatives and a solid reformist showing.
Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs will probably BLAME the Great Satan for their own failures at the polls.
But, the United States cannot resist sticking a finger in Ahmadinejad’s eye and talking to the Iranian people about helping them with “peaceful nuclear energy” (if that is what they really desire).
The Iranian student protesters though are hiding out.
Stay tuned……
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