It has become an extraordinary day, at the end of what has been an extraordinary election campaign.
As soon as polls opened in Iran, it became clear that the enthusiasm of the last few days has been translated into what is likely to be a huge turnout.
There were queues snaking round the block from many polling stations.
The crowds gathered outside, in segregated lines of men and women. Even as they waited to vote, they continued the spontaneous debate that has been sweeping Iran in the last week.
At one polling station I visited, some voters came up to me, nervous that the government might be trying to rig the election.
They were worried that a bus being used as a mobile polling station was not as well monitored as the main polling centre.
Other voters say the system under which a reference number has to be written by the candidates' name on the ballot paper is confusing.
Good humour
Much of the mobile phone text message system seems not to be working, a system the opposition had been hoping to use to send back reports from their monitors at polling stations and election counts.
The opposition has complained to the government.
Rumours are sweeping Tehran that some satellite TV stations may have been blocked.
But for the most part election day has continued the good humour of recent days.
One supporter of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a woman in the long black religious chador, made a point of shaking hands with another woman wearing the green colours of the opposition contender, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
Many of the polling stations are in mosques or other religious buildings.
At the Hosseiniyat Ershad in north Tehran, the number of women, particularly young women, queuing to vote is most striking.
The young voters who have been turning out in force for Mr Mousavi say they want more personal freedom, more opportunities and better relations with the West.
Extended voting
Supporters of Mr Ahmadinejad have praised him for pushing forward the nuclear programme, and say he has earned more respect for Iran internationally.
By mid-morning, the interior ministry announced that already five million people had voted. Voting was extended by two hours, and may be extended longer.
Such a high turnout will make Iranians more confident of the outcome.
They will remember the election in 1997, in which President Khatami defeated a candidate heavily favoured by the establishment.
His victory was so overwhelming it soon became clear that it could not be overturned, even if there had been those trying to do so.
Results are expected to begin coming in during the night. Almost every Iranian you meet is eager for any idea about what is going to happen.
And as for the onewho fears standing in front of His Lord and restrainsthe soul from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode [79:40-41]
Leaked information from the interior ministry, and another meeting which for my own safety I cannot name.
Sharif University (the #1 university in Iran, USA and Canada usually try to steal their students and offer them scholarships & etc to come to their country) professors are also on strike saying they'll come back when the real election results are announced. All their final examinations are postponed for at least 2 months. Other universities and colleges are gradually going to join in.
This is interesting, 69 spirit!
Mohsen, how can you be certain the results you posted are real? I though people were saying the votes hadn't even been properly even counted.
Like I said before, this is Iran, you have to live here to know what it's like. Imagine all our communications cut down and still 2 million people show up to protest against the election results. The results I posted were leaked out by the employees in the interior ministry, the words spread quickly here.
Two night ago as I was trying to read foreign news sites, they were filtering proxies by the minute. I actually went through several anti-filter applications and websites, and they got blocked within 2, 3 minutes. It's a different world here
Last edited by mohsen1985; 06-15-2009 at 05:36 PM.
Mousavi: 19 million +
Karoubi: 13 million +
Ahmadinejad: 5 million+
Rezaee: 3 million +
I rounded down the numbers to millions.
and it's starting to get ugly. Hundreds of thousands of people protesting at the major streets in Tehran and the large cities.
Thanks for sharing, are you imamie ?
The Prophet pbuh said: "Whoever abuses my Companions, upon them is the curse of Allah, the Angles and all the people" (Saheeh, At-Tabaranee)
Abu Bakr As-sdeeq & Umar Ibn Al Kattab (RA) r the best of all muslims after the prophets PBU them all
I hear that teenage kids from America (and all around the world actually) are sending proxies to Iranian protesters. Tell me the last time anything like that has ever happened?
Angry men showed their bloody palms after cradling the dead and wounded who had been part of a crowd that stretched more than five miles (nearly 10 kilometers) supporting reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
The huge rally — and smaller protests around the country — reinforced what has become increasingly clear since the election: the opposition forces rallying behind Mousavi show no signs of backing down. Their resolve appears to have pushed Iran's Islamic establishment into attempts to cool the tensions after days of unrest.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's call hedged his previous strong backing of the result of Saturday's vote. It appeared to be in response to two days and nights of violent protests here, and suggested growing unease among the clerics who sit atop Iran's complex power structure.
In the past few days, a number of senior clerics have met with Mr. Khamenei or written to him, urging him to intervene, according to a series of public letters from the clerics. One grand ayatollah, one of the highest-ranking clerics, issued a religious order demanding his followers not cooperate with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.
The American government need to mind their own business. They do more harm than good.
That is exactly what they are studiously doing, if anyone takes the trouble to find out before making assumptions. About all Obama has done is call for peaceful protests to be respected. He is perfectly well aware that Bush's expressed support for demonstrations in previous years was a huge mistake, and is leaving well alone. You can hardly blame them for not not rushing to welcome the Ahmadinejad 'victory' as even the Council of Guardians are now calling it "provisional" and Khamenei has done a U-turn and ordered an enquiry into possible vote-rigging.
It's also worth remembering that turmoil in Iran is even less welcome to the US and 'the West' than an Ahmadinejad victory.. it's the last thing you want in a major oil producing country during a world-wide recession.
im loving the comments from so many westerners on blogs and websites telling the protesters to continue the fight and 'revolution', no doubt these are the same westerners who in the same breath claim that violence is never the solution, for instance how many times have we heard them telling Palestinians that they shouldnt use violence for their freedoms and rights! but obviously now when it suits them they are all calling for the violence to continue in Iran. and thennnnn westerners act surprised as why most Muslims dont trust them.
btw, dont be fooled by thinking that just because the opposition are being so loud on the internet makes them more popular, as one of twitters very own ceo's said, many of ahmedinijad's supporters are poor and dont have access to internet as many of the opposition easily do as they come from the rich and upper class.
im loving the comments from so many westerners on blogs and websites telling the protesters to continue the fight and 'revolution', no doubt these are the same westerners who in the same breath claim that violence is never the solution, for instance how many times have we heard them telling Palestinians that they shouldnt use violence for their freedoms and rights! but obviously now when it suits them they are all calling for the violence to continue in Iran. and thennnnn westerners act surprised as why most Muslims dont trust them.
btw, dont be fooled by thinking that just because the opposition are being so loud on the internet makes them more popular, as one of twitters very own ceo's said, many of ahmedinijad's supporters are poor and dont have access to internet as many of the opposition easily do as they come from the rich and upper class.
I agree with what youre saying but I dont think its true to say the opposition are all from the high classes of Iran, there are poor Iranians who support Mousavi too. I wrote about it on my blog, check it out here.
im loving the comments from so many westerners on blogs and websites telling the protesters to continue the fight and 'revolution', no doubt these are the same westerners who in the same breath claim that violence is never the solution, ...
What violent confrontations have there been? They aren't rioting in the street right? The whole thing seems pretty peaceful so far.
There have been no suicide bombings, killing of police or governmental officials, no attacks on governmental buildings, no rocket attacks and no mass riots.
The only person killed so far was one of the protesters. The only violence has been from the government.
The protest was very peaceful, I don't exactly know how, why and when during the protest it happened, but only 1 person was killed by gunfire during the protest. From what I hear that person was a 10 year old boy, but I cannot validate that.
When the protest was over, some people tried to break in a basij center. It wasn't a military center, and they opened fire on the people in order to keep them from getting in, since the place was loaded with guns.
This "basij" isn't really an official governmental force. It all started after the revolution. It was just a group of people gathering in the mosques together and acting somewhat like a secret police. They had little rights. They would set up road blocks from time to time and check the cars passing by, and they would actually find drug runners etc in these roadblocks they set up, so they weren't all that bad.
Ever since ahmadi nejad came, since he was a member of basij himself, he supported them, to the point where they think they're some kind of a special military force. Some of them are such extremists, they think they supreme leader is chosen by Imam Mahdi and he's in contact with him etc. They would actually give their lives for him. That's how stupid some of them are. Anyways, they all have guns now, and they all see these events as threats to the supreme leader. You just imagine the rest. . .
"This "basij" isn't really an official governmental force"
I think it actually is.
And in yesterday's protest in Tehran apparently 7 people were killed.
"This "basij" isn't really an official governmental force"
I think it actually is.
And in yesterday's protest in Tehran apparently 7 people were killed.
It isn't, the whole ideology behind it was that it's a "people's thing".
1 person killed in the protest, 7 killed after. Many more injured.
What is happening in Iran is really terrible. Seriously i think that anyone who encourages violence or doesn't tell his supporters to stop violent protests isn't fit to rule to start with. He should be disqualified simply because of that.
It isn't, the whole ideology behind it was that it's a "people's thing".
1 person killed in the protest, 7 killed after. Many more injured.
But it sure is a right hand for them.A very good one.They provide them guns and have them under their control.I mean it's not official official but still....
What is happening in Iran is really terrible. Seriously i think that anyone who encourages violence or doesn't tell his supporters to stop violent protests isn't fit to rule to start with. He should be disqualified simply because of that.
Who should? Mousavi hasn't 'encouraged violence', or at least as far as we know he hasn't. That seems to have come from the authorities, unless you choose to believe the 'official' fairy stories (and I never do when those same authorities slap curbs on press freedom that would make the Burmese and North Koreans blush). But there are millions who, rightly or wrongly, believe they have been cheated and a movement like that either takes on a life of its own and grows, or slowly peters out.. I doubt Mousavi could influence it much either way any more.
Who should? Mousavi hasn't 'encouraged violence', or at least as far as we know he hasn't. That seems to have come from the authorities, unless you choose to believe the 'official' fairy stories (and I never do when those same authorities slap curbs on press freedom that would make the Burmese and North Koreans blush). But there are millions who, rightly or wrongly, believe they have been cheated and a movement like that either takes on a life of its own and grows, or slowly peters out.. I doubt Mousavi could influence it much either way any more.
Mousavi certainly didn't cause this violance.And they HAVE cheated.no Doubt.
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