Iran Votes

my knowledge of Iran is thin, limited to my memories of the hostage crisis as it played out on TV and in the papers, Marjane Satrapi's books, and some great Iranian films i've seen, but this election today seems like a really exciting time in Iranian politics (even though the President isn't the most powerful person in the country there)...but am i wrong in thinking that if this thing is at all close, Ahmadinejad is going to just go around reality and declare himself the winner? and of course the bigger question is, if he loses whether today or in a runoff, does anything really change there?
awesome photo courtesy Huffington Post coverage of the election.