What evidence is there of polling fraud?
The evidence so far is circumstantial but persuasive. The authorities behaved in an unusual way, shortcutting the normal three-day verification and declaration process, announcing an Ahmadinejad victory only two hours after polls closed. The Mousavi camp says the interior ministry told him earlier in the evening that he had won convincingly. In the results published so far there are few of the geographical peaks and troughs that normally characterise fair elections. Ahmadinejad is even said to have won easily in his opponents’ home towns. Tabriz, Mousavi’s home base, normally has a strong bias for local ethnic Azeri candidates such as Mousavi, and he appeared to have particularly strong support there. Yet the official results gave 57% of the Tabriz vote to Ahmadinejad. What can be done about it? Not a lot, officially. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has issued a statement congratulating Ahmadinejad, apparently closing the door to an appeal or further official investigation. Other
