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Election unrest shakes Iran to the core
By Alex Vatanka
19 June 2009
Supporters of defeated opposition candidate Mir-Hosein Mousavi protest the result of the Iranian presidential election in Valiasr Street, Tehran on 13 June. (PA)
The popular mobilisation against the vote count in the Iranian presidential elections of 12 June has the potential to seriously weaken the foundations of the Islamic Republic.
Since the results were announced, daily protests have been held by supporters of the defeated opposition candidate Mir-Hosein Mousavi, while violence has occurred in or near the demonstrations, with at least seven people killed on 15 June.
Beyond the unrest, the immediate post-election debate in Iran has centred on the notion that the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with the blessing of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sought to use the election process to implement a policy of pak sazi-ye nezami (military purge) of the so-called old guard of the Islamic Republic.