Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Re-Elected: No Surprise

Iran's presidential election was a rousing success for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Over 80 percent of voters turned out, giving Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.

Officially.

Unofficially, it's not all that clear. Ahmadinejad's closest rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, got about a third of the vote. For a candidate who had a great deal of popular support before the election, running against a sitting president who's gotten credit for making a mess of Iran's economy for the last four years, Mir Hossein Moussavi didn't do well at all.

Again, officially.

Oddly enough, Moussavi didn't even win a majority of votes in his own home town.

But:

"...Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini apparently has released a statement calling the results 'final' and hailing the election as a legitimization of the regime and its elections...." (FOXNews)

Mir Hossein Moussavi is complaining about the results, but I doubt that Iran's courts will go against the stated wish of the Supreme Leader.

And it probably doesn't make all that much difference, who is president of Iran: except to Iranians.

Iran's chief of state is the Supreme Leader. That's been Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, since June 4, 1989. The Supreme Leader doesn't have to bother with elections. He's appointed by the Assembly of Experts, and holds the position for life.

With a setup like that, I don't think swapping out a president would make a big change in Iranian foreign policy.

Related posts:

• "Iran, Islam, 'Arrogant Powers' and 'Certain Expansionist Superpowers,' and Common Sense"
  (May 30, 2009)
• "Roxana Saberi Out of Iran, in Vienna: Islamic Mercy Followed Through"
  (May 15, 2009)
• "Iran Has Heavy Metal for Bomb, No Bomb: Yet"
  (March 1, 2009)
• "If You Liked Hanoi Jane, You'll Love AMPAS in Iran: Maybe"
  (February 28, 2009)
• "Iran Launched Satellite, Probably: and North Korea's Preparing for Launch"
  (February 3, 2009)
• "Ahmadinejad Wants America to Apologize: This is News?"
  (January 28, 2009)
• "Iran's Nuclear Program, Israel, Iraq, America, Bush and Obama: Simple? Not!"
  (January 11, 2009)

In the news:

• "Ahmadinejad wins landslide in disputed election"
  CNN (June 13, 2009)
• "Official: Obama Administration Skeptical of Iran's Election Results"
  FOXNews (June 13, 2009)

Background:

• "Iran"
  World Factbook, CIA (last updated June 1, 2009)