In June's European elections, turnout in the UK was under 35%. The recent expenses row didn't help, but, if anything, that should encourage more not less political engagement. In the words of Josiah Bartlett, the fictional President in The West Wing, "Decisions are made by those who show up". The level of political apathy in the UK is appalling.
On 13 June the sitting President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reportedly won a landslide. The problem was that the result was expected to be much closer. Some polls predicted that he'd lose. According to the official results, Ahmadinejad received 62.6% of the vote, Mir Hossein Mousavi 33.8%, Mohsen Rezai 1.7% and Mehdi Karroubi 0.9%. The turnout was 85% with just under 40 million Iranians voting.
The suspicion is that the results were rigged. Certainly, there is reason to be concerned. The way the results were announced was highly irregular. Instead of being announced province-by-province as in previous elections, they were simply announced in blocks of millions of votes. In reaction to the final 'result', there were protests which the authorities violently suppressed. In his first public comments after the election, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, expressed his support for Ahmadinejad, demanded the protests end and ominously declared that political leaders would be blamed for any violence.
The majority of the human race has lived, does live and perhaps always will live under non-democratic systems of government. The events in
This article first appeared in Christianity Magazine in August 2009.
