Almost two-thirds of the 290 invited parliamentarians didn’t show up to his celebration
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – recently “re-elected” – hosted a party to celebrate his victory last night. But in a sign of the deep divisions even within Iran’s political establishment, almost two thirds of the 290 invited parliamentarians didn’t show up. The current upheaval in Iran is unprecedented in that the divide is no longer between the ruling elite and the people, but also within the political establishment itself. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has the support of former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, and as their collective snub of Ahmadinejad suggests, some 180 parliamentarians as well.