Iran election: 'This time… we have to vote'

09/06/2009 / IRAN

Iran election: 'This time… we have to vote'

Image posted on Flickr by "Faith Today".

Iran's tenth presidential election takes place this Friday and the race is heating up. Current president Ahmadinejad and reformist Mirhossein Mousavi, both running for president, clashed in a televised debate last Wednesday, causing protests and street-fights on Saturday. Unlike in previous elections however, Iranian expat students say they won't boycott the vote this time.

Jessica Bogus is a 21-year-old French girl currently studying in Lund, Sweden, where many Iranians study abroad. While eating some traditional Gaz (nougat from Esfahan), Jessica asked her Iranian friends, the majority of whom boycotted the 2005 election, what they would do this time.

Contributors

“Boycotting the election last time was a mistake”

Garsivaz (above) and Kiarokh (below) study wireless communication and visual art respectively. They boycotted the previous election.

Boycotting the election last time [2005] was a mistake. Things simply got worse. We really believed that such a movement could challenge the regime. It didn't, but who could have known? This time, it's not who will win that's most important, but our belief that we deserve better. We have to vote!

Who we're voting for? [Mirhossein] Mousavi's [leading moderate candidate] campaign is disappointing, he doesn't propose anything. Mehdi Karoubi [pro-reform challenger] however, he's interesting. He's really trying to touch the young generation. He's even got a Facebook page!"

Garsivaz - Kia

“A case of choosing the best of a bad bunch; but you have to do it”

Shabnam studies social sciences in Lund. She also boycotted the 2005 election.

The election is a game which we have to play in order to change the destiny of the country, even though voting legitimizes the regime. I boycotted the last elections but today such a choice is dangerous. I won't be voting for Mousavi, I find his campaign all style and no substance, and too heavily reliant on his wife, the intellectual Zahra Rahnavard. Elections in Iran are really a case of choosing the best of a bad bunch; but you have to do it."

Shabnam

“I even changed my flight home to get back for the 12th”

Mitra also studies social sciences in Lund. She supports Mirhossein Mousavi.

I embrace the Islamic Republic of Iran, principally because it is a Republic, and then because it is Islamic. I've always gone to the polls and will go this time too. I even changed my flight home and my flat contract in order to get back for the 12^th. As an independent Muslim woman interested in media and politics, I'm actively supporting Mousavi, whose ideas towards women and culture inspire me."

Mitra

Comments

Selection Between “Bad and Worse”!

Submitted by Omid Habibinia on Fri, 12/06/2009 - 10:35.

The 10th Iran’s presidential election will be held today,while many experts predict more people may participate in the election regarding the deep dissatisfaction of Ahamadinejad’s government.

Some people like Shohreh still have not decided who is the better choice, Karroubi or Mousavi, or even prefer to stay at home and not going to vote. Some youth like Hoora may vote for Mousavi whose campaign attracted many young people, but rising more critics about him and his background as the prime minster in 80’s when many political parties were suppressed and ten thousands of political prisoners were killed,force some people to change their campuses and join Karroubi’s.

Even Hoora who worked so hard in the last three weeks for Moussavi’s campaign recently changed her profile picture from a photo with green elements to her previous photo laying down in the desert!

She told me she is not supporting Mossavi anymore and would like to think about it more.

However for most Iranians inside and outside the country their only choice is selection between “bad and worse” and still there are some people who are crying for boycott; shouting vote means you are accepting the whole structure and function of the regime and its legitimacy.

Iran is one of the countries with a huge rate of immigration to foreign countries, most of all in the US, Canada and Europe.

Some report it as on the top list of brain drain to the developed countries’ universities and research centers. It is estimated that about 2 millions Iranians are living outside the country; most of them were ex-political refugees who are now citizen of different countries and have dual nationality.

But there are also many Iranian students in abroad, most of them never get back to the country and every year this immigration wave of educated youth is getting increased, some reports estimate every year about 70,000 leave the country for post graduate studies and most of them would stay in western countries, such as Sweden, UK, Germany, Canada and US.

During Ahamadinejad’s term it seemed the immigration increased critically.

While some opposition groups are getting prepared to demonstrate in front of the Islamic Republic embassies in some cities to protests against “Election Show” and dictatorship in the country, I can hear from more Iranian students in abroad that this time they will vote and hope to get rid of current president who brought them a lot of conflicts, pressures and economical problems. However some Iranians still don’t believe any kind of reform could be possible among the regime’s Islamic and dictator structure.