We proudly featured some indispensable analysis here at LobeLog in the run-up to Iran’s 2013 election, including scholar Farideh Farhi’s discussion of the centrists’ and reformists’ role this time around and economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani’s informed take on the lack of economic policy debate among the candidates.
Some other articles of interest include Reza Aslan’s unique discussion of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s legacy, a former political prisoner’s spotlighting of the Iranian peoples’ struggle and what the international community should and shouldn’t do about it, and arguably the most thoughtful essay written on Iran’s 11th election since its 1979 revolution, Farhi’s “Should Iran’s Election Really be Discounted?“.
For live election updates in English, consider following the New York Time’s generally excellent Lede Blog, this Tumblr site, IranWire, and on-the-ground tweeters Najmeh Bozorghmehr, Thomas Erdbrink, and Tehran Bureau, which tweets messages from its Iranian sources regularly. Some other perceptive Tweeters include Golnaz Esfandiari, Arash Karami, Omid Memarian, Abas Aslani, Scott Peterson, Reza Marashi, Hooman Majd, Laura Rozen, Meir Javedanfar, Muftah and Barbara Slavin.
I’m sure I’ve accidentally left out a lot of other excellent resources, but it’s hard enough keeping up with my own Twitter feed at this point! For now, everyone is anxiously awaiting the results (extended voter times are just about to end) as much as they are hoping for the votes to be counted fairly…
