Iran election roundup, 28 May 2009

Fifteen days left.

The candidates:

Ahmadinejad (محمود احمدی نژاد, top left) - you all know him, he wants a second term
Rezaei (محسن رضایی, bottom left) - he's a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, and even more of a hardliner than Ahmadinejad. His role will be to take hardliner votes away from those disappointed in Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi (میر حسین موسوی, top right) - the other main contender, he was endorsed by former president Khatami and has reformist tendencies. He was prime minister in the 1980s.
Karroubi (محدی کروبی, bottom right) - reformist, and also the only cleric running for office. Says he'll support Mousavi in the second ballot if there is a runoff. It's also possible that he might drop out earlier to support Mousavi.

First of all, let's see if there's a change in Twitter traffic for the four. The number given here is the amount of time it takes for a search on the candidate's surname to fill up three pages of search results. Parenthesis shows the time from the day before.

Mousavi: 6 hours (9 hours)
Ahmadinejad: 8 hours (12 hours)
Karroubi: 9 hours (11 hours)
Rezaei: slightly over a day (no change)

So Twitter traffic for the first three is up, and no change for Rezaei.

There really isn't all that much news for the day aside from the bombing of the mosque in the east of the country, but that isn't strictly election-related either.

• Q&A on foreign policy and the influence the issue is having on the election
• Info on the Iranian political system and how much power the president has
  

Mousavi

• Khatami not impressed with montage film intended to vilify him (and thus Mousavi as well)
• Mousavi not impressed either
• Election far from certain
• Mousavi is Ahmadinejad's main threat
  

Karroubi

• Karroubi would give high priority to improving relations with the US
• Karroubi warns against buying votes under the guise of charity
  

Rezaei

• Tough to find Persian bloggers that support Rezaei

Ahmadinejad

• Detente with the US a possible blow to Ahmadinejad
• Ahmadinejad defends comments on the Holocaust, says no compromise with the West
• Ahmadinejad goes on the offensive on foreign policy in interview, says Iran as effective as the US in world affairs
• Ahmadinejad handing out 400,000 tons of free potatoes