Ahmedinejad Came in Third

We've seen reports of the "real" vote totals over the weekend, but as you can understand, such figures are notoriously difficult to confirm. But the events of this weekend - the crackdown, the violence, the suppression of media - are a damning indictment against Ahmedinejad.

Now the Telegraph UK is reporting that Ahmedinejad not only lost, he lost big. He came in third. This wasn't even close.

Mr Mousavi's cancellation of the protest came as sporadic disturbances continued around the Iranian capital, and reports circulated of leaked interior ministry statistics showing him as the clear victor in last Friday's polls.

The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.

The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.

Their fatal mistake was in overplaying their hand. If they had only shown a narrow victory, then perhaps they would have gotten away with the crime. But Ahmedinejad had to boast that he won by a landslide. And that proved to be the final undoing of this regime.