Ballot wars: The Iranian public strikes back   Last Modified: 17
Jun 2013 22:03 Hamid Dabashi  Email Article Print Article Share
article Send Feedback Hassan Rouhani, seen by many as a
reformer, won in the first round of the recent elections in Iran
[EPA]  On the same day that the United States announced it would
be sending arms to the opposition in Syria, a massacre took
place in Syria, Iraq was roiled by sectarian violence, and
Afghans were struggling to survive the corruption of their
government.  In the midst of all this carnage and catastrophe,
Iranians took time off from their daily chores to go out and
vote for their next president.  This election began as all
others - the ruling administration staging yet another spectacle
to show its legitimacy - but it got more than it bargained for.
Already on Al Jazeera's website you have read two accounts of
this election, one by a group of entirely discredited expatriate
opposition members who call this election a sign of a "phony
democracy", and the other by a