It seems to me that Iran’s clerical leadership is playing a dangerous game. The main opposition candidate is a conservative political insider who supports the current system, but who looks moderate in an Iranian context. His supporters are not demanding a change to the system either. They too just want the system to live up to its own official standards. But as time passes, expectations and goals might very easily expand to a vision that is even more at odds with what Iran’s clerical leadership wants for the country. Shouldn’t they concede before this happens?

One problem is that the opposition wants a new election, because the one they just had is tainted. But what would a new election mean? Among other things, more national discourse on the future of the country, and I suspect such a conversation would lead people to probe even deeper into the country’s problems, perhaps even to their systemic foundation, even if politicians are not allowed to question the country’s political system.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad’s supporters could become increasingly insistent about their desires, and that could easily undermine Iran’s social stability still further. Time is not on the side of those who support the status quo. Unfortunately, that does not mean it is on the side of the opposition.