The Stormy Beginning!

Hours after photos of Ahmadinejad and Masha’ei appeared in the media, the jurists of the Guardian Council filed an official charge against the President for the violation of the election regulations. According to the law, a sitting President may not use state resources to promote candidates for any elected office. The Council argues that by introducing Masha’ei and accompanying him at the registration desk of the Ministry of Interior, Ahmadinejad has misused and exploited government resources. In effect, he is trying to appoint his successor. As I wrote earlier, this comes as no surprise, because Ahmadinejad/Masha’ei ticket is already dubbed in Iran as the Putin/Medvedev strategy. A number of the members of the Parliament were quick to call for a vote of no confidence against Ahmadinejad. That is highly unlikely that such vote would ever materialize on the floor of the majlis, given that his term is going to be terminated in only a month, no matter how long this month turns out to be.

In his own defense, in a press release, Ahmadinejad argued that he was in no violation of the campaign regulations because on the day that he accompanied Masha'ei for registration he had taken a day off. So, since he was not acting in the capacity of the President, he was only there as a private citizen and therefore no violation has been committed! Something that I would call the "Ahmadilogic," which kept his office going for 8 years.

Here are some pictures that caused the outrage of the Guardian Council. A number of websites, which are operated by former supporters of Ahmadinejad, called him an “outdated King-maker.” The caption on one website read, “Monarchy is gone, we are a Republic.”

Judge for your selves. How should one read these pictures?

Masha'ei on the Left, Ahmadinejad on the Right

Not quite clear which one in registering!

And the winner is....?

Don't push, I know what to do...

Let me turn off the enemies microphones!

In the other major news, four major reformist newspapers in Tehran called Rafsanjani’s entrance to the race as the “Big Shock” of the election. In no uncertain terms, they threw their support behind his candidacy. The front pages of these papers need no explanation. There are more than 15 newspapers published in Tehran. In the absence of a clear party organizations, newspapers in Iran operate as the voices of different political tendencies. In addition to newspapers in Tehran, there are regional daily papers which represent different political trends. In future posts, I will explain more about these different lines in Iranian politics.

Front page of E'temad (Trust) the most popular reformist newspaper in Iran.
"Shocking Start!"

Front Page of Bahar (Spring)
"A Day that Will Remain in History:
Creating a Legend with Hashemi"

Sharq (The East) is one of the most popular reformist newspapers which
has struggled in recent years to keep its door open. The paper is under constant
scrutiny of the Press Court and has gone through periods of suspension and reopening so many times.
"At the End, Hashemi Came ..."

Aftab (The Sun) one of the oldest reformist papers.
"That Man Comes for the Rain" (a reference for a fresh start)

In my last post, I mentioned the incredible diversity of the candidates and how the Iranian election law makes it possible for people of all walks of life register, but not necessarily enter the race. Here are some interesting statistics of the presidential nominees:

Number of nominees: 686.

Number of women: 30.

Education: 89 PhDs, 152 MA degree, 212 Bachelors, 52 Associate Degree, and the rest high school diploma and under.

Occupation: 198 businessman, 171 state employees, 94 retired pensioners, 91 university professors, 48 in arts-culture-education, 25 physicians, 2 judges, 17 retired military personnel, 14 clerics, 3 members of the parliament.

Age:  76 under 30, 66 between 30-35, 86 between 36-40, 125 between 41-45, 101 between 46-50, 87 between 51-55, 83 between 56-60, 32 between 61-65, 10 between 65-70, 14 over 74.

The youngest candidate is 19 and the oldest 78.

       behrooz ghamari