Friday , 29 March 2024

Iranians Vote In Presidential Election That Could Bring Hard-Liner To Power

RFL/RE – Iranians are voting on June 18 to choose their next president in an election many believe has already been determined by the strict vetting of candidates.

The vote comes amid voter apathy and rising anger over the poor state of an economy devastated by U.S. sanctions, state mismanagement, and the coronavirus pandemic.

Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, encouraged Iranians to vote while lashing out against the country’s “enemies” for discouraging people from taking part in the election, while state television showed long queues outside polling stations in several cities.

“Each vote counts…come and vote and choose your president…this is important for the future of your country,” Khamenei said after casting his vote in Tehran.

Ebrahim Raisi, a 60-year-old hard-line cleric and head of the judiciary, is widely expected to replace President Hassan Rohani, who after two terms in office is ineligible to run.

Raisi was one of the Iranian judges in 1988 who oversaw a series of speedy trials in which thousands of political prisoners were sentenced to death and executed. Human rights organizations say he is guilty of crimes against humanity.

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There were reports early on June 18 of technical problems at some polling stations, including in Tehran.

But Interior Minister Abdolrahman Fazli said voting has not stopped at any of the country’s 70,000 polling stations.

Iran’s powerful vetting body, the Guardians Council, has prevented prominent moderate candidates from running.

Raisi’s main challenger and the only moderate in the race is Abdolnaser Hemmati.

He served as Iran’s central bank chief before he was dismissed in order to run for president.

The 64-year-old Hemmati, who has gained some traction in his campaign in recent days by criticizing state restrictions and reaching out to reform-minded Iranians, voted early on June 18 together with his wife Sepideh Shabestari in Tehran’s Hosseynieh Ershad religious center.

Hemmati, a technocrat, still lags behind, with public opinion polls suggesting his support is in the single digits.

Major reformist groups have not endorsed Hemmati’s campaign.

Two of Raisi’s hard-line challengers, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and lawmaker Alireza Zakani, dropped out of the race on June 16 — the final day of the election campaign. Both urged their supporters to vote for Raisi.

A low-key reformist, former Vice President for Sports Mohsen Mehralizadeh, also withdrew from the election on June 16.

Two other hard-liners, Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who served as parliament’s first deputy speaker, remain in the race.

Former reformist President Mohammad Khatami voted in Jamaran.SEE ALSO:What Iranian Foreign Policy Could Look Like Under President Raisi


The vote could produce the country’s lowest ever turnout, an eventuality that would cast further doubts over the popular legitimacy of the outcome.

A poll conducted by the Iranian Student Polling Agency suggests that only 42 percent of the country’s 59 million voters will cast ballots. Turnout in 2017 for the last presidential election was 73 percent.

Many Iranians have said they will not be voting due to severely restricted choices. They also cited frustration over the economy, state repression, and disillusionment with politicians who have failed to bring change.

“They’re offering five bananas, saying ‘Choose any fruit you want,'” one Iranian man complained during a recent open tribune in the central city of Isfahan. “How can you pick an orange from five bananas?”

“This time around, Iranians don’t want to react to whatever the establishment is doing and the games it is playing,” U.S.-based Iranian activist Mahdieh Golroo told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

Rohani, who voted while maintaining that health protocols are being respected in all voting centers, also urged Iranians to go to the polls.

“I hope the presence of the people and a large turnout will disappoint the enemies,” Rohani was quoted as saying by IRNA.

If no candidate wins an overall majority on June 18, the two with the most votes will go head-to-head in a second-round runoff.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli acknowledged this week that turnout “may be lower compared to previous elections.”

“A weakness in competition is one reason and the coronavirus situation another,” he told journalists on June 16.

A deputy police chief in Gilan in northern Iran said on June 18 that 27 people were detained for “undermining the integrity of the election.”

“These citizens intended to endanger the health and security of the elections when they were detained by law enforcement officers,” Hossein Hassanpour said. He did not provide further details.

Solat Mortazavi, a representative of Raisi’s campaign headquarters, said there had been “disruptions” in the voting process in some polling centers in southern Tehran.

The BBC reported that some journalists and activists have received threatening telephone calls after using social media to announce they were boycotting the vote. Some said they were told by unknown callers to delete their comments.

Ahead of the June 18 vote, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said more than 40 journalists had been threatened or summoned by authorities — including some who’d posted critical comments about the hard-line frontrunner Raisi.

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Khamenei has accused “American and British media” and what he calls “their mercenaries” of “killing themselves to question the elections and weaken popular participation.”

“It’s been several months now that U.S. and British media are trying hard to decrease people’s turnout at the ballot boxes. Of course, experience has proven that people act against what the enemy seeks. This will be the case this time too, God willing,” Khamenei said, according to his Twitter account.

The vote comes amid talks in Vienna aimed at reviving Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump exited the agreement and reimposed crippling U.S. sanctions on Iran. President Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the agreement if Iran returns to full compliance.

Raisi has promised he would be committed to the deal — which offers sanctions relief in exchange for significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.

More than 59 million Iranians are eligible to vote. Polls will close at midnight local time but can be extended for two hours. The results are expected around midday on June 19.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
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