Not really free

After four years of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s failed economic policies and ceaseless confrontations with the West, many of Iran’s voters clearly want change, according to The New York Times.

The New York Times

There is no transparency or accountability in Iran, so we may never know for sure what happened in the presidential election. ... But given the government’s even more than usually thuggish reaction, it certainly looks like fraud. …

If the election were truly “real and free” as [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad insisted, the results would be accepted by the voters and the government would not have to resort to such repression.

After four years of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s failed economic policies and ceaseless confrontations with the West, many of Iran’s voters clearly were yearning for a change. [Mir Hussein] Moussavi promised that change; he also promised greater personal freedoms, including for women. If Tehran refuses to recognize that yearning or respect the will of its people — most of whom are too young to remember the 1979 Islamic revolution — the government will lose even more legitimacy. ...