Enough Mousavi!
by Kaveh L Afrasiabi (source: CASMII)
Monday, June 22, 2009
As the dust settles it has become patently obvious to me that Mr. Mousavi badly misplayed his card and is simply a sore loser. The Interior Ministry has published the results in every single area and has provided the following explanation that has missed US media's attention:
1. Mr. Mousavi had some 40,676 representative at voting centers, a minimum of 2 at more than 95 percent of all the centers;
2. Mousavi was initially alloted some 45000 representatives and some were not accredited due to very late submission and insufficient information, missing photos, etc.
3. At each center, 14 observers including the candidates' observers oversaw the entire process, including inspection of empty boxes at the outset and their sealing at the end, with four locks, and then all signed a certificate of proper election, i.e., Mousavi's own men have certified the clean process.
4. the number of excess voting form 22 was actually 3 percent down compared to the previous election.
5. The official final results were announced at 4 pm the next day, 16 hours after the closure of voting. (all the other projections subject of so much media focus don't really count --KA).
5. due to summer travel/weekend, in some 50 places, mostly in resort areas of Caspian Sea, the voter turn out was more than 100 percent. There is nothing unusual about this and the official cites specific figures from a number of past elections including parliamentary elections to corroborate this. case in point, he says that in towns of Zorgan and Morv, the votes in the past presidential elections were 200 times more. Some of those areas Mr. Mousavi actually won. There were more than 60000 voting centers and therefore 50 such places is very miniscule.
Unfortunately, some US media including the CNN have made a mountain of this mole by citing "official admission of discrepancy." Fact is that this all pales in comparison with how Mousavi abused the process by calling himself the definite winner one hour after closing of votes and then calling on his followers to "stage resistance."
As someone who fully sympathizes with the basic demands of the democratic movement, I am appalled by the implicit US support for the hooligans who have torched hundreds of banks, some 300 buildings, etc., in the name of civic disobedience. US has failed to make any distiction and has one-sidedly criticized government's heavy-handed approach. Finally, the US media has come down hard on Khamenei, who consented to unique open and competitive elections only to see the egregious abuse of process by a self-declared reformist -- who is nothing but an unreconstructed Stalinist with atrocious record on free press and who in my opinion whose ego would not let him concede defeat. The media's Khamenei-bashing and romanticization of Mousavi and street mobs leaves a lot to be desired. None of this should be misinterpreted as condoning excessive violence by authorities however.
Source here.
Monday, June 22, 2009
As the dust settles it has become patently obvious to me that Mr. Mousavi badly misplayed his card and is simply a sore loser. The Interior Ministry has published the results in every single area and has provided the following explanation that has missed US media's attention:
1. Mr. Mousavi had some 40,676 representative at voting centers, a minimum of 2 at more than 95 percent of all the centers;
2. Mousavi was initially alloted some 45000 representatives and some were not accredited due to very late submission and insufficient information, missing photos, etc.
3. At each center, 14 observers including the candidates' observers oversaw the entire process, including inspection of empty boxes at the outset and their sealing at the end, with four locks, and then all signed a certificate of proper election, i.e., Mousavi's own men have certified the clean process.
4. the number of excess voting form 22 was actually 3 percent down compared to the previous election.
5. The official final results were announced at 4 pm the next day, 16 hours after the closure of voting. (all the other projections subject of so much media focus don't really count --KA).
5. due to summer travel/weekend, in some 50 places, mostly in resort areas of Caspian Sea, the voter turn out was more than 100 percent. There is nothing unusual about this and the official cites specific figures from a number of past elections including parliamentary elections to corroborate this. case in point, he says that in towns of Zorgan and Morv, the votes in the past presidential elections were 200 times more. Some of those areas Mr. Mousavi actually won. There were more than 60000 voting centers and therefore 50 such places is very miniscule.
Unfortunately, some US media including the CNN have made a mountain of this mole by citing "official admission of discrepancy." Fact is that this all pales in comparison with how Mousavi abused the process by calling himself the definite winner one hour after closing of votes and then calling on his followers to "stage resistance."
As someone who fully sympathizes with the basic demands of the democratic movement, I am appalled by the implicit US support for the hooligans who have torched hundreds of banks, some 300 buildings, etc., in the name of civic disobedience. US has failed to make any distiction and has one-sidedly criticized government's heavy-handed approach. Finally, the US media has come down hard on Khamenei, who consented to unique open and competitive elections only to see the egregious abuse of process by a self-declared reformist -- who is nothing but an unreconstructed Stalinist with atrocious record on free press and who in my opinion whose ego would not let him concede defeat. The media's Khamenei-bashing and romanticization of Mousavi and street mobs leaves a lot to be desired. None of this should be misinterpreted as condoning excessive violence by authorities however.
Source here.
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