DAST-E ARZHAN, Iran — In the 2005 election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a large part of his support from Fars and the other central provinces. His victory was achieved through a word-of-mouth campaign led by members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and voluntary paramilitary units known as baseej, who promoted the then-unknown candidate to farmers and laborers in towns such as Dast-e Arzhan.
