Refuting the argument that Iran had a "rigged" election

A friend of mine and I were having a friendly debate while on the phone recently. He is for "planting the seed" of democracy in the Middle East and therefore that is part of his argument for the justification of the Iraq War. When I mentioned that Iran was a democratic nation already and had freely elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he was pretty fired up about that statement...which goes into my blog that is titled "Read it and Weep". He stands by his assertion (and I am paraphrasing) that Iran did NOT run a free election, and that the people were not given freedom to vote, were threatened or were not provided full disclosure and details on every and all candidates.
My buddy will be getting his information to me. I will ask that he post that in comments in either THIS blog...or in my "Read it and Weep" blog so that you the viewer may read both sides and decide. I have read the pros and cons and feel that it was truly a free election (much like we have here in the United States). There were MULTIPLE candidates representing multiple political and/or religious ideologies represented. And in my humble opinion, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected because he was seen as a radical reformer (similar to what Ross Perot or even Jesse Ventura were seen in our country) and was an outside candidate that got the people to see his vision (be it right or wrong...as he is extremely Anti-American) while generating huge support from the working class and especially the poor. My friend said that many people were restricted from voting (or so I am paraphrasing...again, no quotes here), yet others say there was OVER 60% voter turnout and over 30million people voted! The other numbers I have read range from 12% to 30% and again, up to 60%. I'm not sure which one I believe...but I will say that I don't think people were RESTRAINED from voting or prevented from voting...rather they MAY have boycotted voting or protested and objected to certain officials being elected (which we do here by the way) but again, were not physically threatened were in fear for their lives to vote for one particular candidate over another. But that is a peoples free will, not because they were coerced or intimidated which I think is a completely different thing.
As with any election...there are always controversies. But it seems to me from what I have read (and provide for you to read and determine yourself), that the PEOPLE spoke and they liked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad more than the alternatives even though he was initially NOT a major candidate and was not on anyones radar (or so it sounds) to actually WIN the election. But read some of these links and determine for yourself. What may be surprising to you all who have not looked deeper into this issue before...it is important to note that Ahmadinejad is considered a liberal reformist by some and a hard line conservative reformist by others (and is relatively secular compared to all previous elected presidents) and is the first freely elected non-hard line right wing conservative CLERICto be elected in the almost 30 year Iranian (democratic) republic!
Your input feedback would be appreciated. In the meantime, once my buddies has all of HIS resources available, I ask that he provide THOSE to you in HIS comment on this or my previous blog. That way we can figure out wherein lies the truth (somewhere in-between perhaps)? Thanks for your interest and thanks in advance for your responses and thoughts. Read the links here and realize that some of these articles were written AS the elections were taking place (or about to take place):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_presidential_election,_2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/654135.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/658166.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/652597.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/646449.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/651189.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/643526.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/619419.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/618649.stm http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/18/iran.ballot/index.html
This was a VERY interesting articles that tied in the USA in interesting ways: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0628-25.htm
These articles refute the turnout or the legitimacy of certain aspects or all of the votes (or whether it was corrupted): http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200402231057.asp http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601056.html http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/A2B68F48-0826-40EC-A196-5DF742E49616.html
This one isn't about the presidential elections, but is about the "assembly of experts" (think...congress or senators or house of representatives). Much like what happened when the people of the United States showed their dissaproval of the Republicans and voted Democrats into power in both the house and the senate. Interesting article...looks like President Ahmadinejad's days might be numbered! http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-irandemocracy/iran_election_4268.jsp