Unanimity in Boycotting Election, the Need for Convergence Against the Regime

Statement of the Central Council of the Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian)

Unanimity in Boycotting Election, the Need for Convergence Against the Regime!

The Islamic Republic intends to send Ibrahim Raisi, one of the seven qualified candidates by the Guardian Council to the presidential building on June 18. He is one of the main perpetrators of the executions of the last four decades, especially the killing of political prisoners in the summer of 1987. He has the most support from the leadership of the Islamic Republic for presidency. The appointment of this criminal, who lacks knowledge and education and lacks management experience in the government apparatus as head of state, is a clear sign of the growing alienation of the regime's leaders from the needs of society and the narrowing of the ruling circle within it.

‌ Raisi’s "rivals" are less likely to go to the pastor building. Although the "election" of any of them will not change the existing trends, the leaders of the regime, headed by Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, have made their decision even through a rigged election.

This appointment has faced widespread resistance from the society and political and civil forces. The majority of the people of our country have raised the banner of boycott in unprecedented proportions and have been at the forefront of rejecting the regime’s appointments. Opposition forces and critics of the Islamic Republic have moved towards a national consensus by boycotting the regime's "election". So far, the "Reform Front", "Assembly of Militant Clerics", Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard from house arrest, Ishaq Jahangiri, Rouhani’s deputy, Ahmadinejad and his supporters and a number of influential clerics have stated that they will not participate in this mandated election.

This appointment is the beginning of new changes in the Islamic Republic and approaches that go beyond the previous elections.

Crises and the Regime’s Roadmap

In the fifth decade of its life, the Islamic Republic is facing complex and intertwined crises and is struggling to find a way out of the deadlocks it faces. During these years, the regime has faced a cloud of economic crisis of growing dissatisfaction in the society, the spread of demanding movements of various groups of people, structural corruption, incompetency of the government apparatus, international isolation, and the pressure of economic and political sanctions. Now the gap between the regime and the people is much deeper than before. The growing pressure of economic sanctions, especially the restriction of the possibility of selling oil, has limited its sources of revenue to meet the financial needs of the broad government apparatus and to finance its regional policies. In addition, the military presence in the Middle East hotspots and the support of paramilitary forces in several countries have become contentious issues with neighbors and in the negotiations over the nuclear issue, the revival of the JCPOA, and the return of the United States to the JCPOA. The regime's failure to respond to the demands of the people, internal instability and increasing tensions in foreign policy are factors that bring external pressures, from economic sanctions to the risk of military conflict to the people of our country.

The path that the leadership of the Islamic Republic and the power hard nucleus has continuously emphasized has aimed at opposing the people’s demands, disobeying the needs of the society, relying on repressive forces, ignoring the needs for the society development and strengthening military-security organs and intensifying repression. The decision of the core of the power to unify the regime shows that the continuation of this policy is emphasized.

Therefore, this "election" is based on a macro-plan that has been planned over the years and was unveiled three years ago under the title of the "second step of the revolution" document. In fact, this document is the regime's roadmap to get out of its gripping crises in the domestic arena and eliminating the threat of popular movements and creating a kind of stability in foreign relations, even in a limited scale. Hence, the main approach to unify the regime is to end a dual structure, by restricting internal competition, and to increase authority at the top. The aim is to strengthen internal authority to deal with internal dangers, external pressures and to facilitate the replacement of the leadership of the Islamic Republic in the future. These needs require that in the regime’s institutions, planning and arrangement of pieces be done in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Leader and his inner circle. So that in the face of the existing problems and obstacles, preparing for the next "leadership" and the current policies of the Islamic Republic can continue. This "election" serves such an approach.

The Importance and Position of Society Resistance

Today, the Islamic Republic is facing a society full of crises that it is not able to solve. On the other hand, our society has a huge potential for protest, and its signs appear at every opportunity. A society that has faced massive uprisings in the four years between the two "presidential elections", the mass uprisings of January 2017 and November 2019, and the brutal killings in more than a hundred cities and the protests of the summer of 2018. Our society has witnessed over 2,000 civilian outbreaks and strikes by various social groups who have suffered discrimination of one kind or another or several types at the same time.

The people of our country in the past decades have always witnessed the polarization of society and the deepening of the huge gap between the regime and the people. One area that has shown this gap has been the interference of the people in the regime’s elections by using their protest votes. Since May 23, 1997, people have somehow turned every election of the regime into a referendum to express their dissatisfaction with the regime. Turning undemocratic and engineered elections into appointments and blocking any competition, even limited ones at the top, is in fact closing this limited loophole of pressure from the bottom. However, people themselves have realized the futility of such “elections.”

On January 27, 2021, in response to the thirteenth presidential election, our party announced in a statement that the Islamic Republic was preparing for the most closed "election" of its life, and by stressing the need for a broad boycott of this mandated election, actively called for protesting against it. What the regime has done over the past few months to implement this show has confirmed our analysis and policy.

The importance of this boycott is not limited to its scope, it is much more of its strategic outcome. The broad spectrum of "No!" to this "election" includes not only diverse views and perspectives, but also those who have chosen not to participate in protest of the extent of restrictions on this "election". The importance of forming such a spectrum of alignment must be acknowledged and valued. On the one hand, this is an important milestone in the struggle of the Iranian people for the establishment of a free and just society, which has now risen against the tyranny of Velayat-e-Faqih, and on the other hand, it is a potential opportunity for the growth of idea of free elections.

The series of events, after the announcement of the names of the "qualified" candidates by the Guardian Council and the subsequent reactions, showed that the desired uniformity of the leadership of the Islamic Republic is an unattainable goal. Revealing how Hashemi Rafsanjani was disqualified by the former Minister of Intelligence, Ali Larijani's request to state the reasons for his disqualification, and numerous letters about the procedure governing disqualifications in the Guardian Council are indication of widespread dissatisfaction with the "system" roadmap within the regime. The spread of unanimity in boycotting the "election" will certainly further fuel not only dualism, but also pluralism within the regime.

The Need for Convergence

With the advancement of the roadmap of the power hard nucleus and planning for the appointment of Raisi as president, the regime has become more unstable and fragile, causing discontent and collapse in the regime structure and fueling challenges within the fundamentalist spectrum. With these trends, the regime becomes thinner and the ranks of the opposition and critics become wider. This shows in the extent of the boycott.

The importance of boycotting this "election" is not only due to the widespread popular outcry on June 18, but also to the widespread political upheaval that has developed between the Islamic Republic and its opponents and critics. The line-up formed against the Islamic Republic show in this period of the presidential election is unprecedented and, in its kind, promises a new opening in the direction of the opposition forces and critics of the system. We now see, in addition to a significant portion of reformists and forces around them, republican parties and movements active in the country from the National Front of Iran to the Iranian Freedom Movement, influential civil society organizations among workers, teachers, the women's movement, artists, writers and newspapers, along with republican and secular forces of the left, national, democratic, and national and ethnic forces, political and civil activists abroad have stood up to the Islamic Republic's stagy election, and with "NO" to the engineered election are fighting for free election and handing over of power to the people. Elections in the Islamic Republic are not free. The fate of the elections is determined by the institutions affiliated with the leadership of the system, and the person who is "elected" is not accountable to the people but follows the orders of the Supreme Leader.

Undoubtedly, unanimity in the widespread boycott of this "election" is a conscious political movement in line with the resistance of the people and at the service of democracy. The boycott of the stagy election has increased the scope of opposition to the regime and made the opposition forces stronger and closer to one another. Strengthening cooperation between various branches of the republican and democratic opposition forces raises hopes for change and influence of the republican opposition in the society.

From the position of the interests of the Iranian workers and laborers and necessity and importance of the convergence of the republican forces, the Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian) fights for the transition from the Islamic Republic to the establishment of a secular and democratic republic in Iran. In our view, the source of the legitimacy of the regime is the will of the people. We declare our readiness to create a coalition of secular and democratic republican forces and welcome dialogue with all forces.

The Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian) considers the widespread boycott of the "elections" as an important step in strengthening the popular protest movement, in the service of strengthening the opposition and critics of the Islamic Republic, and as a step towards the transition from the Islamic Republic. We call on all secular republican and democratic forces to take joint action in this area and to align their activities to stand up to the Islamic Republic. We urge party supporters at home and abroad to link campaign "I DO NOT VOTE" and "NO!" to mandated elections to fight against the roadmap of the power hard nucleus.

Central Council of the Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian)

June 16, 2021