In one of its first acts after usurping the will of the Iranian people, the government of Mahmud Ahmedinejad has banned a rally by the supporters of Mir Hussain Mousavi, the man from whom they stole it.  If there was any doubt about the sham nature of the Iranian elections, this first act by the Islamic Republic should remove it.

Results leaked by the staff at the Ministry of Interior suggest that not only did Mousavi win the first round of the elections, the incumbent Ahmedinejad came in third, behind second=place Karoubi.

The question then remains, why does the Islamic Republic go through this charade every four years?

Out of above 2,000 candidates who aspired to be president, , only four were declared qualified by the "Shoray Negahban" - the so-called Council of Guardians of the Constitution.

The outcasts rejected and barred from running included women, religious minorities, leftist, and some liberal-nationalists.