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Conservatives Crowned Winners in Iran
2004-02-26
Iran’s conservatives were yesterday crowned as winners of the parliamentary elections, securing a firm majority in the assembly after polls that most of their incumbent reformist rivals were barred from contesting.
Yeah. I've been on the edge of my seat while the votes were being counted...
Final results from the Interior Ministry showed a likely coalition of hard-liners, conservatives and other right-wingers holding 156 of the 290 Majlis seats after the first round of voting. Reformists were decimated with just 39 seats. In addition, they can only contest 17 of the 58 seats that need a second round — pointing to a crushing right-wing majority when the new parliament convenes in May. The result was hardly a surprise, given that the fix was in Guardians Council blacklisted most reformists ahead of the polls. But it was nevertheless a devastating blow to the reform camp, which swept to power in 2000 with a huge majority in the Majlis but saw its efforts to democratize the country blocked by more powerful hard-liners in the Guardians Council, judiciary or other right-wing bastions.
Showed all that "democracy" stuff up as play-acting...
It will also spell isolation for President Mohammad Karensky Khatami, who will be one of the few reformers left in public office before his second and final term ends in June 2005. Although his drive for political and social reforms look set to be halted, conservatives have vowed they will keep up economic reforms.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#5  When the other side totally jugs elections, it's time to get nasty. Never thought I'd say it, but let's start shipping arms to Oom.
Posted by: mojo   2004-2-26 6:14:03 PM  

#4  Oy - we've got at least 3 working definitions of liberalism - 1. so called classical liberalism, with laissez faire 2. used for what in late 19thc europe would be called radicalism - anti - laissez faire and redistributionist, but not quite socialist - blame David Lloyd George and the Lloyd George liberals. 3. The definition i prefer, in larger history, which includes EVERYONE in between the classic anti-democratic conservatives on the one hand and the Marxists on the other - so it includes BOTH laissez faire liberals and lloyd george liberals - both ronald reagan and Ted kennedy. Thats a disagreement within the broad parameters of 19th c liberalism.

and for conservativism - we use it for genuine old tory distrust of liberal secularism and democracy - you get that in Buchanon, and occasionally a wiff of it in George Will we use it for the "liberals" of definition one - and we use it for anyone trying to conserve an existing political/social system from Russian communists to iranian mullahs - its a synonym for status quo defender.

and all complicated by the levels of status quo. Is someone taking down a bureaucracy that was trying to change the private sector a radical (vis a vis the bureacracy) or a conservative (vis a vis the larger society)

Basically i would accept that labels change with time and place, and are specific to the situation. Im a liberal on blogs like this - in reality im really seen as more of a moderate in American society today - and 30 years ago my views would have been conservative. IN europe today theyd be conservative, if not reactionary.

Im a hawk on the middle east, but among my Jewish and Israeli friends im a moderate dove (as i am on this blog - at LGF im strong dove)
Religiously some jews see me as a modernizing heretic - while i have relatives who think im orthodox.

Make your own label - me, im a third way neo-liberal with social democratic tendencies, sympathies to neocon foreign policy, modified by limited neo-Wilsonian internationalism. And thats only the start. If you can be described in a word, your too simple.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2004-2-26 5:25:49 PM  

#3  I'm starting to get really tired of the Western media's use of the word "conservative" to describe these Islamic Fundamentalists.

I am a "conservative", by which I mean I believe in classical liberalism and laissez faire government.

Conversely, I'm tired of left-wing socialists labelling themselves as "progressives"...as if they have a monopoly on progress. Tell that to students in the US public schools...


Posted by: mjh   2004-2-26 2:49:09 PM  

#2  This reminds me of Saddam's election victory a couple of years ago.
Posted by: Tom   2004-2-26 9:44:39 AM  

#1  Khatami's vision will be missed, for sure. But the conservatives are aware of their new status as the "everyman of Islamic society". With that in mind you'll see real progress! Nay sayers be damned.
Posted by: Lucky   2004-2-26 1:11:59 AM  

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