What is the mood in Iran ahead of the presidential elections
Election billboards adorning the streets of Iran for the upcoming presidential election make big promises: economic prosperity, an end to corruption, freedom of the press, reversing the brain drain, and a candidate's pledge to "save the citizens" from all troubles that afflict the country.In their efforts to attract votes, all six candidates – five conservatives and one reformist, all selected by a committee of clerics – are unleashing violent attacks on the status quo. In speeches, television debates and roundtables they criticized the government's economic, domestic and foreign policies, as well as the moral police's violent treatment of women, and ridiculed official rosy assessments of Iran's economic prospects as harmful illusions.Extraordinary presidential elections w...