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?