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Have been following the Iranian elections on the news recently as it has defied my expectations of being merely a pr excercise by the Ayatollahs and actually seems to be displaying a spontaneous outbreak of democracy. Of course, the President of Iran wields far less power than the Supreme Leader, who has the power over foreign policy and nuclear issues, while the President is more in charge of domestic issues and budgets etc. Iranian TV while 100% supportive of Ahmadinejad prior to the campaign has given equal air time to all 4 candidates. The strongest opposition to Ahmadinejad has come from Mousavi, former Prime Minister of Irtan from '81 to '89 and determined to combat Iran's extremist image abroad. There has been open non violent confrontations betweeen the supportes of both men, turning streets into open air crowded debating chambers, and Mousavi seems to be gaining speed as the campaign has come to a climax. He especially has support among the younger generations and he is supportive of greater personal freedoms and of raising the ban on private TV stations. He does however support the continuation of the Iranian nuclear programme. Surprisiongly, the conservative Ahmadinejad has managed to alienate many of the Iranian clerics, and unsurprisingly, has lost the plot a bit in the final days of the campaign, accusing his opponents of plotting with Israel to falsify documents against him!!! It will be interesting to see whether Mousavi will win, and, if he does, just what steps he will take, and will be allowed to take, to reform Iran. There certainly seems a modernist mood of optimism on the streets of Tehran, a mood that many commentators have in part attributed to Obama's success in the US.