Editor’s Note:  The author is an Iranian-American who spent four months in Iran around the election period and wishes to remain anonymous.

By Masih Alinejad

Editor’s Note:  Masih Alinejad originally wrote this article as a column for Etemad Melli a reformist Iranian newspaper headed by presidential candidate Mehdi Karroub . Her editor declined to publish it for fear that the baton carriers would descend on the newspaper office.

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Iran 2009 Presidential Election Results

Albanian President Bamir Topi, speaking to graduates of NDI’s women political development program, urged women across the country to assert their voices in public affairs.  Albania has one of the lowest percentages of elected women in Europe. They hold only 10 of the 140 seats in Albania’s parliament, and only one of the country’s 65 mayors is a woman.

In the history of the Islamic Republic, no incumbent has ever lost in a presidential election. The 2009 election may make history with over 46.2 million eligible voters and record high voter turnout anticipated.

• “Many of the officials in the Rafsanjani government and many of your officials started work with nothing and ended up billionaires…How many of my ministers have become billionaires in the last four years?”
  – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a presidential debate with reformist challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi

The Iran Election Bulletin is a biweekly publication covering domestic political and election issues in Iran in the lead-up to the June 12 presidential election.

By Kaveh-Cyrus Sanandaji
Middle East Center, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford

By Geneive Abdo
Iran Analyst, The Century Foundation

Now that Iran’s presidential election has effectively boiled down to a close race between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reformist challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a struggle has emerged over whether a powerful outside force – the country’s militias, who primarily support Ahmadinejad – should be allowed to endorse a candidate and oversee the balloting on election day.