{"id":19366,"date":"2021-04-04T16:56:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T21:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=19366"},"modified":"2021-04-04T16:56:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T21:56:07","slug":"iranian-electoral-boycott-ramps-up-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/19366\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Electoral Boycott Ramps Up Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Iranian regime held its latest\u00a0parliamentary elections<\/a>\u00a0in February 2020, polling places saw their lowest levels of turnout in the 40-year history of the Iranian regime. This fact was acknowledged even by official government sources, which have a long track record of exaggerating voter participation in order to give the impression that there is widespread popular recognition of the ruling system\u2019s legitimacy.<\/p>\n

Soon after the elections were concluded, Iranian officials, including the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, began downplaying the significance of public apathy and arguing that it was simply a result of legitimate fears of the emerging coronavirus pandemic. But this narrative was undermined by the fact that Tehran had only acknowledged the existence of domestic Covid-19 cases a day before the elections, apparently as a hedge against the failure of the regime\u2019s concerted efforts to drive large-scale participation in the political process.<\/p>\n

Regime\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani later boasted of the regime\u2019s supposed transparency about the pandemic, specifically claiming that authorities \u201cdid not delay even one day\u201d in revealing what they knew about local community spread. In reality, though, suspected cases of coronavirus infection had been recorded by the country\u2019s National Emergency Organization between one and two months before the regime\u2019s first public statements on the matter.<\/p>\n

The People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>) attributed the cover-up to the regime\u2019s obsession with saving face in the wake of three nationwide uprisings, spanning the period between\u00a0January 2018<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0January 2020<\/a>. Still reeling from those incidents and staring down the symbolically significant 40th anniversary of the Islamic Republic, regime authorities apparently resolved to facilitate as much participation as possible in public celebrations and parliamentary elections before considering any publicly observable countermeasures against the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

This approach clearly put Iran on the path to becoming the worst-affected country in the Middle East and one of the worst in the world. As with the statistics regarding the parliamentary elections, this description is supported by the regime\u2019s own estimates, even as those estimates fall far short of the reality. According to the Iranian Health Ministry, approximately 60,000 Iranians have died from Covid-19 thus far. But detailed reports from the MEK point to a death toll of roughly a quarter-million people.<\/p>\n

The Iranian people have suffered tremendously as a result of the regime\u2019s effort to present an image of strength and political stability. Thus, not only did that strategy fail to have the desired impact on political participation, but it also provided the general population with even more reasons to endorse the message of the nationwide uprisings and to reject all claims to legitimacy by the country\u2019s theocratic rulers.<\/p>\n

This has placed those rulers in a particularly difficult situation ahead of the sham presidential election. No doubt Khamenei and others are fearful of the effect upon public perceptions both at home and abroad if there is another successful boycott of the polls, as there is likely to be. In fact, the supreme leader personally articulated that fear in a speech on February 17, though he framed it as a positive appeal to Iranian citizens.
\n\u201cThe more public participation in the elections, the more effects and benefits it will have for the state,\u201d Khamenei said. \u201cWhenever we approach elections, the enemy starts saying, \u2018there is no freedom and the elections are engineered,\u2019 to disperse the people from taking part in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013 many Western policymakers embraced what appeared to be a come-from-behind victory for Rouhani, and even went so far as to portray it as a partial victory for \u201creformists\u201d. This narrative was rejected, however, by Iranian activists who emphasized the lack of freedom of choice in all Iranian elections, as enforced by the Guardian Council, an entity tasked with vetting legislation and candidates for high office to assure they align with the will of the supreme leader.<\/p>\n

Iranian opposition group the MEK was quick to criticize those Westerners who spoke favorably about Rouhani and his so-called reformist faction. And when the first of three nationwide uprisings broke out in the final days of 2017, rejection of the reformist\/hardliner distinction went mainstream in the form of slogans that were repeated across more than 100 cities and towns. Participants in each of the uprisings were heard to identify both factions by name before declaring \u201cthe game is over,\u201d to indicate that their preference is for leadership that comes from outside the ruling system.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Iran Elections 2020<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n