Right On The Right

The New York Times is currently running a story on Iran entitled "Reformers Make Gains in Iran." It's technically factually accurate, but it's misleading, because the actual results of Iran's recent elections show that the country is still deeply entrenched in hard-line Islam. Let's jump to Bloomberg for an accurate view:

March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Iran's most devout Islamist factions took an early lead in an election for the nation's 290-seat parliament over opposition parties that are calling for more democracy.

Candidates backing the system under which senior Islamic religious leaders have the final say over policy gained 108 of the first 141 seats declared, and more than 70 percent of votes counted, state-run Press Television reported today. The Reformists' Coalition and National Trust Party, which oppose an Iran governed purely by Islamic rules, got 33 seats, it said.

Most of the conservatives who have won seats are from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's United Principlist Front, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, without saying whether the group was on target to retain a majority in parliament. Ahmadinejad is seeking to keep control of the legislature ahead of presidential elections next year in which he can run again.

Now, let's clarify a few things. First off, conservatives as listed in this article are religious extremists that believe in Sharia Law, and are very different from Conservatives here in the United States, who believe very strongly in the principles of freedom. Second off, a splinter group did decent in these elections, but it was a splinter group that also believes in the power of the theocracy. What these results show is, you can't expect the Iranians to reform their own system, which is already near-rigged. There needs to be serious intervention.