Iran certifies election people think bogus

NY Times:

Iran’s powerful Guardian Council certified the results of the country’s disputed presidential election on Monday, according to state television, an unexpectedly rapid move that set the stage for more clashes in the streets of Tehran.

The announcement came even as the government continued its efforts to try to quell public anger over the election, with a parliamentary committee reaching out to religious leaders. The government went to far as to extend a deadline for considering complaints of vote rigging — just hours before confirming the vote.

When news of the certification broke, witnesses said, security and militia forces flooded the streets, and protesters who were already out marching down Tehran’s central avenue, Vali Asr, broke into furious chants. Other Iranians, urged on by Web site pleas, went to their rooftops to yell “God is great!” in a show of defiance.

The government has barred all independent coverage of events in Iran, jailing hundreds of journalists and revoking the credentials of hundreds more.

Earlier Monday, state television said the Guardian Council had begun a random recount of 10 percent of the ballots in Tehran’s 22 electoral districts and in some provinces. Opposition candidates refused to participate by sending observers, and the recount aroused new skepticism when the official news agency IRNA said that in one district, the hardline incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had won even more votes than in the first official count.

On Monday night, state media suddenly announced that the Guardian Council had finished the recount and officially confirmed the declared landslide for Mr. Ahmadinejad.

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Antagonizing Britain, when the European Union is Iran’s largest trading partner, could add further damage. There was already some indication that some of those close to the supreme leader were growing anxious over the state of the nation. European security experts, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, confirmed reports in Italian and Turkish newspapers that large sums of money in banks controlled by the Revolutionary Guard were being sent out of Iran to safe havens.

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I will be surprised if Europe shows any backbone in dealing with Iran. But, I have also been surprised by the continued displeasure of the opposition groups in Iran.

The decision on the election will be received by them as another show of bad faith. They could not even go through the motions of a serious investigation of the count before coming out with another that was even more unbelievable. It will only stoke the anger they have been trying to suppress.

While some in the leadership have appealed to Iranian paranoia by suggesting the demonstrations are the work of outsiders like the British or Americans neither country is responsible for decisions like this one. Perhaps they should blame Honduras or Palua.