Author : Mehdi Mirghaderi
Translation: Kaveh Kian
Parliamentary elections slated for Friday February 22 were held in the face of widespread boycott by the Iranian populace. According to Mr. Jamal Araf, the national head of the Elections Commission, the eligible voting population for this event is reported as fifty seven million and nine hundred eighteen individuals (57,918000), while physical evidence of actual photographs and videos of the majority of polling stations show barely handfuls of voters turned up, creating a massive and incontrovertible crisis of legitimacy for the Islamic regime.
Classic opposition forces in Iran have traditionally supported boycotting the elections since they believe the Islamic Regime to be entirely illegitimate and considered “Occupiers of Iran” since the revolt of 1979 which was staged through the “unholy alliance of the Marxist left and Extremist Islamic forces”.
Over the past 41 years, the Islamic regime has used various methods to draw voters to the polling stations, most effectively through the portrayal of a “Reformist faction” drawing a distinction between a choice for “Bad or Worse” that could only be affected by mass participation. This illusionary distinction was wiped out by the election Hassan Rouhani, the current President who was the candidate of the Reformists. Experiencing his Reformist regime, people concluded once and for all that the Islamic regime was incapable of reform, and in 2017 the ultimate slogans of “Reformist and Hardliners your time is up” were chanted throughout Iran, clearly declaring that Iranians were demanding the complete and utter obliteration of the Islamic regime and its concepts.
Other coercion methods for forcing masses to the voting booths have traditionally included the threat of cessation of their “supplemental income” (Yaraneh), “enforced ineligibility to register at universities” or “expulsion from their workplace”.
In the current elections, held on Friday, Iranians demonstrated that they no longer acknowledge fear tactics of the regime and they will not remain pawns in the fake game of elections with predetermined outcomes, both factions of which have been orchestrated from the very same central source, rendering Iranians mere actors in a well-choreographed circus meant for foreign consumption.
For the Islamic regime, voting has represented a proxy for gaining legitimacy to” rule” over the masses, as individuals pledge their confidence in the leader en-masse. Busy polling stations and larger turnouts reinforce this concept for the Ayatollahs as witnessed by recurring statements from the Secretary of State, Javad Zarif, reciting the 70-80% turnout at elections as evidence of their legitimacy.
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂