The election of Rouhani demonstrates an overwhelming no by the Iranian population against Iran’s status quo. Civil resistance against the regime’s engineering of elections through the vote Written by ASL19 researcher and journalist Shahram Rafizadeh for GDFI While Rouhani might not be the standard bearer for reform in Iran, he has slowly turned into Iran’s hope for change. While the conservative faction, and the Supreme Leader’s inner circle endeavored to sterilize these elections in their favour, the election of Rouhani demonstrates an overwhelming no by the Iranian population against Iran’s status quo. The evidence and the way in which the stage was set for the 2013 presidential elections, suggested that the Supreme Leader wanted to continue the conservative nature of the government of the past eight years. This explains why leading reformist figures, such as Mohammad Khatami, were not allowed to run in the elections. In an unprecedented move, the Guardian Council disqualified Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council, and the reformists’ second choice for candidacy. By allowing Mohammad-Reza Aref and Hassan Rouhani, lesser candidates from the reformist and moderate factions, the ruling elite thought it would disperse the reformist votes in favour of conservative vicotry. There has also been a conscious effort by the ruling establishment to undermine the position of the President, as it has become source of dissent and tension towards the office of the Supreme Leader. Notably, this opinion has been echoed amongst the closest amongst the Supreme Leader’s circle, including Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a hardliner cleric close to Khamenei who has mentioned, “Who are the people to give someone the right [to govern]? Do they have such a right themselves?” Yazdi continues that a president who is not ‘installed’ by the Supreme Leader has no legitimacy. Yadollah Javani, the Supreme Leader’s advisor at the IRGC had also commented on the elections, two months prior to the date. He had indicated that “participation, well-being, security and favorable results,” were the true aim of the elections. Political pundits also noted the game-show format of the presidential debates, featuring multiple-choice questions and image flashcards for the candidates as another effort to belittle the office of the president. Under pressure by both viewers and the candidates, the IRIB, under the leadership of the Supreme Leader, was forced to retreat from its initial strategy. While the final two debates returned closer to the norm of presidential debates, the traditionally heated debates featured in the one-on-one discussions were eliminated. Even after the vetting process, those close to Ali Khamenei and military authorities attempted to polarize the candidates into two groupings of “compromise” and “resistance” with regards to foreign relations. Specifically, Saaed Jalili, the current chief nuclear negotiator was represented as the symbol of resistance for Iran’s foreign policy. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, commander of Basij stated that, “Today, from within the country, tunes of compromise are reaching our ears. But those who give this message are traitors. We do not want a compromising president.” With Aref’s withdrawal from the race, and the reformists’ endorsement of Hassan Rouhani, the stage fell apart for the ruling elite. Given that Hassan Rouhani is in fact not a reformist, and given his political track record, significant changes are not going to take place during his presidency. However, with this in mind, the voters’ choice can be seen as a form of “civil resistance” to the Supreme Leader and his allies’ plans for engineering the elections in their own favor. Abbas-Ali Kaabi, a clergyman and close ally of Khamenei explicitly announced Jalili as the Supreme Leader’s candidate of choice. During a speech in Qom, Kaabi said, “the enemy is now concentrating on one candidate not receiving votes. The rest of the candidates are not important to them. What is important is that the program [elections] continues on a path of passivity toward the United States.” Now, based on Kaabi and other similar comments from close government allies, one can count the “four million, one hundred and sixty eight thousand, and nine hundred and forty six votes for Jalili” as the votes in favour of Ali Khamenei and those around him. Jomhoori-Eslami Newspaper, confirms this analysis with its main headline, “Rejection of extremism.” The article furthers argues that even the votes for candidates who are not affiliated with the extremists may be considered the people’s tendency toward moderation. Jomhoori-Eslami continues, “from a close look at the votes it becomes visible that the proportion of votes for the candidate supported by extremists is a small percentage of the people’s votes. This fact reaffirms the failure of this faction for the Iranian people.” Also, Abbas Abdi, in a headlining article for Shargh insisted “during recent elections, the only candidate who could be a representative for the conservatives was Mr. Jalili, while the rest of the candidates attempted to enter the race from a non-conservative vantage point, rather than a reformist one.” Abdi continues that as soon as the reformists were able to endorse one specific candidate, all these alternative points of entry closed, and in less than three days, the reformists were able to change the course of the elections. This is why now, chants such as “my martyred brother, I got your vote back”, “Mousavi and Karroubi must be freed”, “political prisoners must be freed”, amongst many others can be heard at gatherings and celebrations across the country. In light of the current situation, certain Iranian organizations are extremely worried at this time. This could explain the Young Journalists Club, with close ties to the IRGC has warned against “structure shaking chants from Tehran and other large cities can be heard” and asked Rouhani to advise his supporters to put an end to the spread of such chants. Prior to the elections, the Basij was a central campaigning tool for Saeed Jalili. Now, Mohammad-Reza Toyserkani, the Supreme Leader’s representative at the Basij, has tried to justify the defeat. Toyserkani commented that, “this lack of votes should not be attributed to the essence of the revolution, since one person can not be equated with the spilled blood of the martyrs and the revolution’s values. The reasons for the lack of votes are not related to the regime and its leaders.” Did you find this story interesting? Be the first to like or comment.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:33:56 +0000