Ahmadinejad vs. Rafsanjani (Look-back at 2005 Elections to understand 2009)

In the 2005 Presidential Elections in Iran, Ahmadinejad won decisively, receiving 61 per cent (17.2 million votes) to Rafsanjani's 35 per cent (10 million). The Interior Ministry belonged to the reformist camp at the time and yet Ahmadinejad won in a landslide then. Yet, somehow in 2009 allegations of "rigging" were made by reformists when Ahmadinejad, this time an incumbent candidate won once again in a 2 to 1 landslide against a candidate backed by Rafsanjani and the exact same forces in 2005. In this documentary you can hear reformists themselves saying they stood no chance against Ahmadinejad. It's funny how history is soon forgotten and people have amnesia.

In hindsight, several factors -- aside from the inherent unreliability of Iranian polling -- help explain an outcome no Iranian expert had predicted in 2005 and again in 2009. Reform candidates in 2005 stressed human rights, democracy and social liberalisation, with little attention to the economic and social issues of far greater urgency to most Iranians. With high unemployment and inflation, economic woes, not democratic deficits, were uppermost on people's minds. Ahmadinejad focused on day-to-day problems in 2005 and again in 2009. Ahmadinejad came across as a man of the people, in touch with everyday concerns. Touring in a small bus, he often spoke in mosques and prayer halls. While Rafsanjan's campaign slogans were geared to the urban middle and upper classes as were Mousavi's in 2009. Ahmadinejad focused on the poor, emphasising his humble background and simple lifestyle.

Given all these facts and repeat of the same circumstances, why is it a surprise then that Ahmadinejad re-emerged victorious?

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[TamborKaloo]

Someone please in Tehran University kick mr. MOHAMMAD MARANDI'S ASS!!!!!!!!!

[OGHAD]

couldnt of said it better myself

[germanicus24]

Typical of reformist sell outs. I didn't know that also in these previous elections they had done something as outrageous as backing the most disgusting and corrupted man in Iran. What a gang of hypocrites and indeed arrogant excuses of intellectuals who repeat like parrots the dull ideas of our declining West.