The Iranian Opposition: Taking Stock Eight Months Later

DEVELOPMENTS

In June 2009, I witnessed hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters amassed in and around Enghelab (revolution) Square demanding to have their voices heard in a political process that was once the most democratic in the Middle East outside of Israel. Their votes had just been thrown out by the regime of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a tainted election, the outcome of which relied on the counting of hand written ballots.

At one particular polling station in downtown Tehran just blocks away from the Enghelab Hotel where we were staying, I watched as voters, unable to write their names, were allowed to mark ‘X’ next to the name of their candidate of choice. With ballots like these, and the Iranian regime’s established control mechanisms, the scene for vote tampering to achieve a pre-ordained outcome was set.

Regime leaders presumed Iranian voters would accept election results as they had the panoply of policies that have served in recent years to isolate further the country from the rest of the international community. Mere hours after the polls closed, President Ahmadinejad was declared the winner, and protesters, suspecting vote tampering, and fed up with the benefits that often accrue to the vote meddlers themselves, flooded the streets.

Having completed on February 12th the 11-day commemoration of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Khamenei regime and the movement opposed to it continue to grapple to a stalemate. As the eyes of the world continue to focus on this Persian nation, it is worth checking in on the strength of an opposition movement that bore so much promise just eight months ago.

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