Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Iran and Egypt

Electoral turnouts are one indicator of the legitimacy of government. I'll compare Iran and Egypt, the most important powers in the MENA region.
  • Iran

    2005 Presidential Elections
    Turnout: 62.7% (the first round) and 59.6% (the second round)

    2004 Parliamentary Election
    Turnout: 50%

  • Egypt

    2005 Presidential Election
    Turnout: 22.9%

    2005 Parliamentary Election
    Turnout: 23%
I'd venture to say that Iran's electorate regard their government as more legitimate than Egypt's electorate do theirs.

But guess which government is Washington's target for "regime change," and which government is the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel?

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