The Iran Election Bulletin is a biweekly publication covering domestic political and election issues in Iran in the lead-up to the June 12, 2009 presidential elections.

• “The (coalition) government should form ahead of the election. It would bring power and respect to the Iranian nation … Iran is a now a major power in the world. But we are not civil enough, so we lack political parties.”
  – Mohsen Rezai, quoted on the Farsi-language website Fararou, March 13

The leading candidates to emerge in the 2009 Iranian presidential election are:

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By Geneive Abdo
Middle East analyst, The Century Foundation

By Masih Alinejad

The Iranian new year has begun, but the old tale of election doubts remains in the streets of Iran. The election game has changed, but people’s demands have not. Some of the candidates have become more serious about running, but many Iranians have become even more confused. In the final days of the Iranian calendar year, the people of Iran were looking to those who had announced their candidacies to fulfill their social, economic, and political hopes.

By Geneive Abdo
Middle East analyst, The Century Foundation

The March 15 victory of Mauricio Funes, candidate of the former guerrilla movement Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, FMLN), marked a new stage in the consolidation of Salvadoran democracy.

Returning on March 4 to the United Nations, where it was launched two years ago, the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics) – a joint initiative of NDI, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) – presented “Getting Ahead: Testimonials from Women Political Leaders” at this year’s 53rd s