As Iran scares the Middle East, at home its regime rots

The results of the shah's last election were a triumph. His party won all 268 seats. Officially, nearly half of the electorate voted in 1975. But when revolution erupted in 1979 his party melted away. The elections on March 1st for Iran's parliament and assembly of experts, which selects the supreme leader, share similar traits. Unlike previous polls, when pragmatists and reformists could stand, all but ardent hardliners have been disqualified, including a former president, Hassan Rouhani. Hence loyalists will sweep the board. But as the regime purges its reformists, it shrinks to its inner core. In its hunger to…