During the parliamentary vote, Iranians vented their anger towards the ruling elite
Iranians have sharply rebuked Iran’s ruling conservatives, an analysis of the parliamentary elections shows. Millions of Iranians have boycotted the vote and a far-right faction is making notable gains.
Many well-known conservative lawmakers, including the current speaker of parliament, General Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, saw their vote numbers plummet in last week’s elections and in many cases were defeated in their renewal efforts. -election.
In numerous cities, including the capital Tehran, so many blank votes were cast that some politicians joked that several seats in parliament should remain empty due to the lack of votes.
Perhaps even more striking was the emergence of many ultraconservative candidates. In Tehran, these included a young state television personality, Amir Hossein Sabeti, who had no political experience and denied that the coronavirus pandemic was real; a cleric, Mahmoud Nabavian, who opposed Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and said the country needs nuclear weapons to confront Israel; and another cleric, Hamid Rasai, who said protesters of the massive 2022 female-led uprising, as well as one of Iran’s most famous actresses, should be executed.
Iran is a theocracy with a parallel system of government in which elected bodies are overseen by appointed councils. Major state policies in nuclear, military and foreign affairs are determined by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Supreme National Security Council, while the Revolutionary Guard has extensive influence over the economy and politics.
Parliament’s influence is limited and focuses mainly on social and economic issues. But parliamentary elections remain important as indicators of public sentiment, which in this case has affected the ruling clerical and military elite and the system as a whole, analysts say.
“In the bigger picture, we are witnessing a crisis of representation,” Abolfazl Hajizadegan, a leading sociologist in Tehran, said in an interview, adding that the voter boycott had spread and tapped into the frustrations of a diverse economic and social class. “It seems that all professional politicians and current political groups and parties are losing their credibility and reputation.”
Voter turnout is a key indicator of support for the government, although critics accuse officials of artificially inflating the totals. The Interior Ministry, which is leading the elections, said 41 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots across the country and blank votes made up just 8 percent. Turnout in Tehran was around 25 percent, according to the ministry, while other major cities reported around 30 percent.
In contrast, more than 70 percent of the 56 million eligible Iranians cast their votes when President Hassan Rouhani was elected in 2017.
Prominent activists, politicians and dissidents, including imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, had called on Iranians to boycott the vote as a form of protest. Many ordinary Iranians followed suit, saying in interviews and on social media posts that they had become disillusioned after years of enthusiastically voting in previous elections for candidates who promised change but failed to deliver.
Since Friday’s elections, Iran’s already battered currency has fallen further against the dollar, a grim sign of inflation and dwindling purchasing power for Iranians already suffering from an economy under pressure from US sanctions and corruption.
Senior Iranian officials appeared unfazed by the rise and rejection of establishment candidates. Mr Khamenei, who had urged people to turn out and vote, said the election represented an “epic” victory over Iran’s enemies.
But others, including some public figures, openly mocked this claim. A former conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has become an outspoken critic of the government, said in a video that the official spin on the election made him feel sorry for himself and the country.
“What victory?” he asked. “To cast aside the people is not a victory, it is the greatest defeat.”
Voters’ dissatisfaction also emerged in a separate election for the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member administrative body that will ultimately appoint a successor to Mr. Khamenei after he dies. Three prominent clerics with decades of leadership roles at the intelligence, justice and interior ministries were voted out, including Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the scion of an influential political family and the chairman of an appointed council that oversees the government’s work.
Many Iranians, including analysts and politicians, expressed skepticism about the government’s numbers, both in terms of participation and blank ballots. They said the empty polling stations, widespread apathy and anger, and reports leaked to the Iranian news media of much higher numbers of empty ballots indicated that the government was manipulating the numbers to save face.
Saeed Shariati, a political analyst and member of a reformist political party, said in an interview from Tehran that blank ballots also represented a kind of protest vote. If they were subtracted from the total votes, the actual turnout would be around 30 percent nationally, he said.
“I really hope that the country’s message is heard and understood, but my experience proves otherwise,” Mr Shariati said.
Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency said 12 percent of ballots in Tehran were blank. Tehran’s top candidate, Mr. Nabavian, the cleric who called for the development of nuclear weapons, received about half a million votes, according to official results, a number that represented only a small fraction of the vote in a city of about 10 people. million.
About 45 of Parliament’s 290 seats remained undecided this week as leading candidates failed to secure 20 percent of the total eligible votes, the threshold needed to be elected. The Interior Ministry said a runoff for those seats would take place in April or May.
Elections in Iran have never been free and fair, compared to the standards of democratic countries, because candidates undergo a strict vetting process monitored by the government. But they had remained competitive and unpredictable to some extent until 2020, when the Conservatives sought to consolidate power.
More candidates were disqualified in this month’s elections. The Reformist Front, the umbrella party of the reformist factions, says it has no candidates for the elections. The competition was mainly between conservatives. And that has consequences for the composition of parliament.
“We are witnessing a radicalization of parliament. A smaller minority of extremists will rule over a majority of people who are fed up and want complete change,” said Aliakbar Mousavi Khoeini, a former Iranian lawmaker from the reformist faction now in exile in the United States.
Former President Mohammad Khatami, the founder of the reform movement, surprised the public by not voting. At a meeting with members of his political party on Tuesday, Mr Khatami said he too boycotted the vote because he wanted to be on the side of the people and not lie.
“We can say based on the official figures that the majority of Iranians are dissatisfied with the status quo and the current administration and this gives us little hope for the future,” Mr Khatami said, according to a transcript of his remarks published in the Iranian. news media.
Leily Nikounazar contributed reporting from Belgium.