Today's the day that could spell the beginning of the end of threats, aggression, and acts of impunity for the Israeli rogue state in the Middle East. In Europe we have been watching this all morning. Iran is 3 1/2 hours ahead of us in Ireland and that means they are 8 1/2 hours ahead of the US east coast. So far things this morning are truly amazing. The video I'm seeing from inside Iran, the scenes of young people, students, women, an unprecedented amount turning out to vote. Additionally, the polls in foreign locations around the world are being held open for an additional 2 hours! The scenes remind me of what I saw in America when Obama ran. This bodes very well for Mousavi, or should I say "Israel's Nightmare" if you haven't read my post about Israel praying for Ahmadinejad you can read it here.
There are live updates in the form of tweets from the Reformist candidate Karroubi can be found here, but sadly they are in Persian and cannot be translated into English with google. Same goes for Maousavi's website here, again no translation is available. Google needs to address this!
Also, the Guardian is doing a live blog with updates, but I must say it's a wee bit slow to refresh and update. I will be monitoring it and will post anything important here.
Some 45,000 polling stations are operating across this country of 72 million people and 46 million voters.
so far this is a synopsis of what has been reported so far:
12.45pm:
Mousavi is winning most votes, one of his allies told Reuters,but Ahmadinejad camp dismissed the claim as "psychological war".
Sadegh Kharaz said surveys showed Mousavi was getting about 59%.
12.35pm:
Iranian radio is reporting a high turnout but gives no figures, writes Ian Black
10.45am:
There is a widespread concern at Mousavi's main headquarters in the centre of Tehran over vote-rigging, writes Saeed Kamali Dehghan.
reports that there's a possibility that the government will block Mousavi supporters' blogs and websites today. The country's text message network has been totally blocked already. The website also carries reports that Mousavi's representatives have not been allowed to monitor polls at some centres in the country and have not been poorly treated.
Reformist candidate Mousavi cast his vote alongside his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, some minutes ago in the central mosque of Ray city in southern Tehran. After voting he stepped out to speak to reporters but found the electricity had been cut off, leaving him without a microphone. This has happened to him more than once at public rallies throughout the campaign, leading to accusations that the government is trying to silence him.
This time, Mousavi angrily objected to his treatment, and continued to talk to reporters without a microphone.
Former Iranian moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, who cast his ballot this morning in Tehran Jamaran's religious complex told reporters: "I'm not a fortune teller but as far as I'm seeing Mousavi should win."
10:00 AM
Analysis by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society has produced fancy cluster maps of the Persian blogosphere on the eve of the election.
Authors John Kelly and Bruce Etling wrote:
This online interest doesn't necessarily translate to the offline world, but it may indicate a broader level of excitement about Mousavi in the electorate, particularly among those outside his expected base of supporters, which could ultimately lead to higher voter turn out for Mousavi.
8.30am:
Our Tehran stringer, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, says Mousavi supporters are being urged to cast their votes in schools rather than mosques for fear of vote rigging
8am:
Iran's election day finally arrived at 8am local time (4.30BST), writes Ian Black. But Tehran, paradoxically, is far quieter than it has been for the last extraordinary week of mass rallies and impassable streets, not least because today is Friday, always a holiday. The key to the presidential vote is turnout: the higher it is the more likely a defeat for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline incumbent.
Mousavi does interview before Election:
3 years ago
