Western media downplays Ahamadinejad’s resounding victory

By Saybhan Samat

(July 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In the wild brouhaha of the presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran before in and after the elections of June 12th the significance of the victory of President Ahamadinejad was lost. The Western media down played his singular victory, down played his 63.3% or 24.5 million votes that he obtained and also down played the record 86.2% turnover, the highest in any election held world –wide proving that democracy or Islamic democracy is alive and kicking in the Islamic Republic of Iran. All demonizing for years on the system of theocratic Islamic democracy in Iran by the US and European countries were exposed as malicious propaganda and the discerning of the world marveled at the conduct of the elections despite the media mafia’s spin against the manner in which the elections were held and the election itself.

It would be doing justice to President Ahamadinejadfd to restore him to his deserving places on his victory which was indeed stupendous. Ahamadinejad comes across to the average person in the Islamic Republic as honest, modest and free of all pretensions. His body is slim just like theirs; his face is not puffed up with layers of affluence that comes from being a “president.” One could easily confuse Ahamadinejad with any worker or craftsman in a field or in a shop.

The majority of the people in Islamic Republic of Iran knows Ahamadinejad’s simple life style well. He comes from a blacksmith family in the village town of Aradan-which has about 40 families- a place so vague and remote that it barely appears on the map!

Like ordinary country people, Ahamadinejad is very humble, meek and religious. He is not known for being ostentatious, he is not a man who likes to attract notice and impress others. His humility is unbounding. During the past four years when all the citizens were watching him, he was not contaminated with the disease of aristocracy and of the ruling class. On the people’s watch, during the past four years he worked 16 to 18 hours a day which even his adversaries and political enemies admitted. He did all this to improve lot of the poor; he wanted to improve their condition. His aim was to alleviate their hardships and be their public servant. He raised the minimum wage as well as retirement pensions.

With this performance in the past four years of his first term in office does it come as a surprise to anyone that poor people all over the country would vote for him as president for the next four years? Is anyone surprised to see the elites, the upper classes of society, and the power – hungry annoyed by such a humble person and his populist policies?

The lower classes of people are the majority in Iran as in any other country. Since his election four years ago, Ahamadinejad made it a point to go every month for one week to a different region of the country along with some of his advisers and listen to what the people had to say to him directly, and to contribute to solving their problems and improve their well-being. Going into this election, Ahamadinejad had established himself as the people’s president, a populist by any definition. Can anyone dispute the fact that Ahamadinejad won the hearts and the votes of the labourers, the farmers, the working class and the under-class? And who are these, if they are not two thirds of the population?

When one considers the percentage of vote obtained by Ahamadinejad, it is virtually the same as he got in 2005. Then his percentage of vote in the second round was 61.9 per cent; this time it was 63.3% percent. This indicates that Ahamadinejad did not lose his support base primarily because he had worked so hard to help the people. His humility simplicity and genuine deference to the elderly earned him much affection, they saw him as one of their own and they loved and respected the man.

His support base consisted of the rural and urban poor as well as the pious. These numbers were augmented by the millions of Basijis and Revolutionary Guards from whose ranks he emerged after a distinguished service during the imposed Iran war. It was this majority, far different from the Gucci crowd of northern Tehran that gave Ahamadinejad such a resounding victory.

President Ahamadinejad is the precious fruit of Imam Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution of Iran. He has become a spokesman for the oppressed people of the world and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a model president for all other presidents of the world to emulate.

-Sri Lanka Guardian