CHICAGO IN TEHRAN, TRA-LA, TRA-LA - AT 7:16 A.M.:  This should make President Obama feel right at home with the Iranian mullahs.  From The Times of London:

In 50 Iranian cities the number of votes cast in this month presidential election exceeded the number of eligible voters, the state's election watchdog admitted today.

The surprising admission by the Guardian Council was, however, designed to undermine the claims of the defeated candidates that the vote was rigged.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main rival in the hotly-disputed election, and the other two losing candidates have claimed that the vote exceeded eligible voters in as many as 170 districts.

Abbasali Kadkhodai, a spokesman for the council of senior clerics, told the state television channel IRIB: "Our investigation shows that the number of districts they announced is not correct. Based on our preliminary report, 50 districts face this issue."

And these leading apostles of democracy argue that the corruption wasn't enough to swing the election.  It is heartening to see the degree that they've learned Chicago politics.  So some departed loved ones voted?  What's wrong with a little respect for the ancestors?

Of course, the so-called Supreme Leader has already announced that the election result would stand, bo all this "investigation" is meaningless.  The real issue is how the Iranian people will continue to react, and how the "international community" will treat a clearly illegitimate government.

June 22, 2009