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Last December, I made some predictions for 2009. Number 9 was: "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will win the presidential election in Iran, but only after seeing off a serious challenge and amid allegations of widespread vote-fixing."

And so, it seems, it came to pass. I'm not in Tehran, so I can't judge how seriously to take the allegations from his apparently defeated rival, Mir Hussein Mousavi, that he is the victim of electoral fraud. But I do remember when I was there for parliamentary elections nine years ago (when the reformists won 65 per cent of the vote) that certainly in Tehran - and certainly among the young - there was a passionate desire for change. Then, as now, the demand was simple: We want freedom.

It's far more difficult to judge sentiment outside the big cities, where people are poorer and much less likely to talk openly to foreign reporters. But if you want an idea of what Iran's many bloggers and Twitterers are saying, you'll find a selection, plus video clips, .

And the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's world affairs editor, John Simpson, who is in Iran, adds his thoughts .

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