> Really? So in Kurdestan province, where Ahmadinejad went from 22,353
> votes in 2005 to 315,689 votes in 2009 -- an increase of over 1400% -- you
> find this a normal result that happens all the time in normal elections?
Yes, and this is why I constantly harp on the concept of the periphery and semiperiphery -- these regions of the world are NOT directly comparable to highly industrialized, homogenized countries like the US. They are deeply heterogenous, marked by tremendous linguistic, economic and ethnic diversity, to the point that the "nation-state" can seem more fiction than reality. In statistical terms, these zones don't have "normal" distributions. That shows up in voting patterns -- honest elections, like those of Venezuela or Bolivia, are marked by vast regional differences, even when the candidate or parties involved are really and truly popular.
To see those differences magically erased by the national vote tally is not credible. It's entirely possible Ahmedinejad really did win the national vote by 49% to 47%, but the uniform distribution of the alleged two-to-one margin across the country screams fraud. Probably the hardline clerics were afraid of a run-off, where Mousavi could continue to build momentum.
-- DRR