In an unbelievable turn of events, Ahmadinejad won the Iranian Presidential election. The World was watching closely and most nations were hoping for his defeat. Moussavi, his opponent, was a reformist candidate who was open to real change in Iran. He stood for a renewed dialogue with America, did not support nuclear weapons and in fact believed in spending less on the military, and believed in expanding a whole host of civil liberties, from more freedom for women to a more fair court system. Moussavi stood for a dream that many Iranians have of getting out from underneath the oppressive regime that they have lived in for so many years. The young population represented the largest base of support for Moussavi. Moussavi took some tactics from the Obama campaign, mainly utilizing Facebook and other technology to mobilize the young vote. The median age in Iran is 27 and therefore the voice of the young is very loud and vocal. All of the analysts worldwide seemed to believe that Moussavi would win decisively or if he lost, it would be by a small margin. The result, Moussavi loses to Ahmadinejad by a landslide, nearly 30%. It is virtually impossible in my mind that this was a fair election. It was rigged from the very beginning and the fact that the defeat was so large, is testament to a corrupt government and an unfair “independent” monitoring system.

Now, Ahmadinejad has stated that he will not guarantee the safety of his opponent. Could you imagine if President Obama would not guarantee the safety of Senator McCain after Obama won the election? Ahmadinejad will most likely have Moussavi executed, will jail him, or Moussavi will simply vanish in the next few months. It all doesn’t matter so much anyway as the Ayatollah Khomeini is the Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution as the highest ranking political and religious authority of the nation, until his death. He lead the Iranian revolution in 1979 which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran. He will always be the final say and the ultimate power leader of this nation until he dies and therefore the President is really only a figurehead. Either way, it would have said a lot to the World had Moussavi won. He may not have been able to do all of what he wanted (as Khomeini would put in many roadblocks), but it would have made a real statement that the Iranian people are ready for a new era.