Real Election for a Powerless Post!

So says Marcus Gee in today's Globe and Mail!

"In Iran, the regime holds a real election for a powerless post." But even if the winner's power is limited, the fact that all of the candidates tried so hard to distance themselves from the revolutionary past is a sign of changing times, he continued.

However, he realizes that if Ahmadinejad, whom he calls the hardest of all hard-liners, wins, the modest social reforms brought in by Khatami, such as the easing of controls on public dress and behaviour, could be rolled back.

What seems rather absurd to me is that after more than 8 years of struggle for democracy, the western world is only aknowledging now that Iranians thirst for freedom, pragmatism and normality.