Iran’s Imminent Boycott as Fraudulent Presidential Elections Approach

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that’s the regime’s sham presidential elections in June come closer, many officials admit that another national boycott is imminent. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a former member of the regime’s Parliament, said in an interview with the semi-official ILNA news agency on Tuesday, “Statistics on people’s turnout in elections are worrying; people’s most important question is, what is the use of participating in elections…last year’s election, we had the lowest turnout.”

“In recent weeks, Mr. Rahmani Fazli addressed a gathering of parties at the Ministry of Interior, saying that there are worrying signs that not only there is no desire to increase public participation, but polls and estimates indicate that comparing to last year, there is a decrease in public desire to participate in the election,” Sadeghi added.

The Iranian regime needs a large audience to legitimize its rule, particularly after the violent suppression of the November 2019 uprising, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1500 protesters.

The government’s representative, Ali Rabie, went even further, asserting, “Elections are the key to the country’s foreign and domestic affairs. Unfortunately, some people think that they will benefit from low turnouts in elections.

This is a misconception, and as an analyst, I would say that if we have low turnout in elections, the next government with little social capital will never be able to solve problems,” according to the official IRNA news agency.

On 7 March, former MP Salahshouri said in an interview with the state-run Dideban-e Iran, “Given the living conditions and life hardships for different sections of society, it seems that the level of participation in elections will below.

Politicians want to say “this” should happen no matter what, but seemingly, there is no motivation for people to participate. What can happen in these few months when people are hoping to participate in the elections?”

“In the parliamentary elections, we saw the lowest turnout, and even in many small towns, the turnout was minimal, let alone Tehran, which had the lowest turnout in the country,” he added.

These leaders, mostly from the so-called “reformist” party, are warning the opposing faction of a low turnout, knowing that they can no longer mislead people with false reformist arguments.

As popular dissatisfaction with the regime grows, more people, especially the youth, are drawn to Iran’s main opposition party, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran).

The state-run Mardom Salari daily wrote on 8 March, “The rival faction should consider how we could control the rising danger of the [MEK Resistance] Units? Do they not see how the MEK is trying to recruit members from the ranks of the unemployed youth and the masses of boys and girls lost in poverty and turn each of them into an insurgent and a time bomb?”

The Mullahs are being warned about the MEK’s standing in the Iranian society and the prospect of uprisings, as the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has announced that he wants to make his regime unipolar by removing all candidates from the opposing faction during the sham parliamentary elections in February 2020.