Every time I think that the Islamic regime in Iran can no longer surprise me, I get rudely re-introduced to reality:

The government of Iran on Saturday announced that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad had won a landslide victory in the presidential election, amid claims from opposition leaders that the results in the historic contest had been “staged”.

Opposition supporters were shocked at the results and Mir-Hosssein Moussavi, the moderate former prime minister who was challenging Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, vowed to fight what he saw as a unacceptable result.

[. . .]

With about 82 per cent of the votes counted, the interior ministry said that Mr Ahmadi-Nejad had won 64.7 per cent of the vote, easily passing the 50 per cent threshold needed to win outright in the first round.

Mr Moussavi had taken only 32.2 per cent of the vote, the ministry said, while the two marginal candidates, reformist Mehdi Karroubi and fundamentalist Mohsen Rezaei, won 0.8 per cent and 2.07 per cent respectively.

The interior ministry released the results with record speed, without giving details of which constituencies had been counted.

[. . .]

The results appear to be at odds with the huge groundswell of support that formed

…