Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A shiver went down the spine of the international community with the re-election of President Ahmadinejad in Iran just yesterday. An Iranian analyst has reported that in the Iranian election there is no requirement to vote near one’s residence. Voter turnout at a particular voting station or even in a city can theoretically exceed the estimated number of eligible voters in that locality. A person’s voting eligibility is determined by a birth certificate. In previous elections, reports surfaced that the Imam Khomeini committee, a large state charity affiliated with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, rented birth cards (BCs) belonging to the poor. According to the National Organisation for Civil Registration, the number of birth certificates considerably exceeds the number of Iranians. Many birth certificates are issued as replacements for reportedly lost ones and there is little to prevent people using duplicate BCs to vote at two different polling stations.

The victory of the Ahmadinejad regime was described by a very knowledgeable analyst this lunchtime as ‘regime change’. Even the mullahs seem to have lost control of Iran, with the victory of what can only be described as a Revolutionary Guards government. The international community is very concerned that Iran respond positively to the appeals of President Obama for a more peaceful existence—(Time expired)