29/02/2012 / IRAN
Anti-government activists in the city of Isfahan post flyers calling on people not to vote in the parliamentary elections. One flyer reads: "Down with the religious leadership." Another reads: "Voting is ignoring the blood of the martyrs who were killed fighting the regime." Video posted to YouTube by vandad1360.
Three Iranians discuss their hopes for Iran’s parliamentary elections
Photo published on Flickr by Parmida76.
On March 2, Iranians will head to the polls for the first time since the highly controversial presidential election three years ago, which led to massive street protests and a bloody crackdown. This time, they will be choosing the country’s next parliament. However, they will have little in the way of choice – the opposition is largely staying away from this poll. Our Observers in Iran tell us whether or not they will turn out to vote and why.
During the 2009 election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory led to eight months of large-scale protests. Supporters of the opposition claimed that the election was stolen from Mir Hossein Moussavi, a former regime insider who ran as a reformer, advocating greater freedoms. Dozens of people were killed and many more wounded when security forces clamped down on the protests. This marked the end of the so-called “Green revolution” – named for the protesters’ signature colour.
This time around, no such unrest is expected, since reformists are largely boycotting the elections. Instead, they are eyeing the presidential election slated for next year. In the meantime, hardline candidates will be left to fight it out amongst themselves. A government body vetted all candidates from every party; most are aligned with either the president or with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. However, Khamanei has an advantage: he appointed the members of the committee that vetted candidates.
Out of an initial 5,395 candidates, only 3,200 have been allowed to run.
“I don’t think anything will change while Khamanei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards still have power””
Melani is an engineer. She lives in Tehran.
During the presidential elections in 2009, I supported Medhi Karroubi, a former speaker of parliament who ran on a reformist platform. However, I don’t plan on voting in these elections, because the regime obviously doesn’t care about the people’s wishes. This wasn’t as clear before the last elections – many people in the middle class still believed that reform was possible from within the regime, but when protests were repressed after the elections, it became clear that the electoral process was a sham.
There are very few reformist candidates in this race, and they are weak; the real reformists have decided not to run. For the first time, most people who are pro-reform are calling for a boycott of the vote alongside leftists. I believe most of the population will abide by the boycott, except for people who are pro-regime and for those who are afraid that if they don’t vote, they will no longer be able to pass background checks that the government carries out any time you need to apply for permission for anything – for a job, for university studies, for a store permit…
If there were any strong reformists running this time, I might go vote, but even then it’s not clear to me how they could change anything in Iran while Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards still have power. [Editor’s Note: Khamenei, who as Supreme Leader is considered to have divine power, is in place permanently, while presidents serve a maximum of eight years. He holds the final say in all matters of state and faith. The Revolutionary Guards are a powerful branch of the military tasked with protecting the country’s Islamic system; they uphold the Supreme Leader’s authority.] Nevertheless, I hang on to hope that things will change; I believe reform is a long process.
Given the tensions between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, it will be interesting to see which camp ends up controlling parliament. The election’s results could certainly increase these tensions.”
“I expect the next parliament to bring more stability and unity to our country”
Mahmoud owns a grocery store in Tehran. He is 33.
I’ve voted in every election since I was 16. My favourite election was the 2009 presidential election, which was truly a battle to preserve our country’s greatness. I believe Iran is now more powerful than ever before because we were able to stop the communists, the liberals and the People's Mujahedin of Iran from trying to overthrow our government in the last election. Now, most of these people have either left to go abroad or have calmed down, which gives Iran the opportunity to not only grow as a country but also to support other Islamic movements in the region, for example in Bahrain.
I believe Ahmadinejad has been the best president after Khamenei [who served as president from 1981 to 1989]. I hope there is no tension between Ahmadinejad’s followers and those of the Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader], but I believe that if there are any tensions, they are not as serious as the country’s enemies try to make them out to be. I don’t think these parliamentary elections will cause any problems.
I plan on voting, but I’m not just going to vote from one party list; I’m going to vote for the best candidates. I expect the next parliament to bring more stability and unity to our country, so that we can more effectively solve problems like the underground war being waged by enemies of our government, and the US and Israeli trying to attack Iran.”
“I no longer believe elections will get us anywhere”
Arman is a student. He lives in Tehran.
During the 2009 presidential election, I campaigned for reformist candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi. After the election, when I saw the regime kill people in the streets, I veered radically to the left.
I will not go vote this time. I no longer believe elections will get us anywhere. Elections in Iran are simply for show, since every candidate is approved by regime officials. Only a minority of people will go vote in this election, and that will just be more proof that the regime has no legitimacy among ordinary people.
Like many people, I think reformists would not achieve anything even if they could get into power. Back when Mohammad Khatami was president [1997-2005], there was a time when the reformists had the majority in parliament and had more influence over the judiciary. However, they stayed within the confines of Islamic rule – and this means that there was no hope of freedom of expression or equal rights for women. As long as we are under Islamic rule, this will be the case.
I think radical changes will take place in Iran by the end of this decade – the economic situation will force the working class to rise up. If Western powers don’t intervene, I believe the Iranian people will overthrow the regime themselves, and create a democratic, secular republic. However, if they do intervene and create a dependant government to replace the regime, we will just end up like Afghanistan.”
