رفتن به محتوای اصلی

Widespread Boycott of the Mandatory Election, a Good Opportunity to Strengthen the People's Protest Movement!

Widespread Boycott of the Mandatory Election, a Good Opportunity to Strengthen the People's Protest Movement!
No to Mandatory Election, Yes to Free Election!

Widespread Boycott of the Mandatory Election, a Good Opportunity to Strengthen the People's Protest Movement!

No to Mandatory Election, Yes to Free Election!

 

The presidential election will be held on June 18, 2021, which is about five months away. This election has features that distinguish it from previous ones. If in previous periods the factor of attracting people to participate in the elections was necessary and important for the regime, this time, but with the regime aware of the widespread dissatisfaction of the people and recognizing the unprecedented frustration of the society towards the ballot box, the main attention of the leaders is achieving a uniform power structure. Therefore, the importance of the presidential election in this period for the regime is related to several processes: the confrontation between society and the regime, increasing the ability to suppress the people uprising and the demand movement, preparing for Khamenei's succession in accordance with the Supreme Leader intentions, and confronting tensions in foreign policy. In this regard, cohesion in the management of the country to face foreign policy tensions, with the complete takeover of the institutions by the far right and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders has an important position.

 

Society and Elections

Widespread protests in January 2017 and November 2019 and the growing frustration of various social groups to bring about positive change through shifts within the system showed that society has taken a step towards the transition from the Islamic Republic. Although the regime succeeded in suppressing the people's protests by attacking them and the outbreak of the Corona pandemic created a barrier to holding rallies, this movement has not disappeared, and it is deeply rooted in the society and will undoubtedly emerge in newer depths and scopes. Also, the demands of the people and the need to change the current situation remain alive. Currently, the growth of the demand movement of workers, the poor, retirees, teachers, etc. is evident. Successive wave of strikes of Haft Tappeh workers, Hepco workers, contract workers of oil, gas, petrochemical and power plants in the south of the country, nurses, teachers, retirees, railway service workers, etc. in different parts and many mid-size and small units in every corner of the country are evidences of the unprecedented dimensions of the growth of the demand movement. The persistence of the Corona crisis and the ineffective performance of the regime in dealing with its outbreak can itself act as a growing factor in these protests.

Today, not only many people no longer trust the mandatory elections, but they have also lost hope of any opening in the Islamic Republic. The experience of the Rouhani government put the last nail in the coffin of the engineered elections in the Islamic Republic and buried the remnant of the trust of a part of the society in the elections in the Islamic Republic. The current situation in the country is an indication of increasing demands and political struggles of the people against the regime. Ignoring the regime tricks, people pursue their demands through strikes, rallies and street protests.

The Regime Roadmap

To continue the rule of Velayat-e-Faqih (the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) and to pass this stage, the Islamic Republic has designed its roadmap by arranging the trusted pieces of the Velayat-e-Faqih system. Engineering of the forthcoming presidential "election", like the Eleventh Parliament "election", as well as the amendments to the Electoral Law adopted by the Parliament, are interconnected components of this roadmap. Parliament has long been manipulating and engineering the election law to select the preferred option or options. This time, the parliament has stepped in ahead of the Guardian Council and by changing the election law has provided "legal" guarantees to pave the way for a viable option for the main power.

According to a recent parliamentary resolution, senior commanders of the armed forces with the rank of major general and higher can run in the upcoming presidential election. In the past, IRGC candidates have repeatedly run for office by severing ties with their own institutions, but this time, the parliament has completely eliminated the requirement for individuals to resign from military positions so that a senior commander can serve in the presidency role while still in the barracks. By setting the age limit, the parliament reduced the incumbency period for candidates in senior positions from six to four years to make it easier for Khamenei’s favorable younger candidates to run for the presidency. The militarization of the executive branch will allow the president to directly intimidate and suppress the popular movement against the ruling apparatus.

All the evidence show that the Velayat-e-Faqih system has the conquest of all forces in its agenda. Currently, most of the parliament seats are occupied by the intelligence and security forces and the IRGC’s commanders. Of the twelve members of the management board, seven are commanders or members of the IRGC and the Basij. Major and key members of parliament are also mostly members of the IRGC and the Basij. In total, at least 24 commanders and senior officials of the IRGC and the Basij, mostly in the ranks of brigadier general and colonel, are present in the parliament. The seizure of the executive branch is a goal that Ali Khamenei is seriously pursuing to ensure the transfer of power to the next Supreme Leader.

Elections and our Position

The upcoming presidential election will take place after the two uprisings of January 2017 and November 2019, the firing of a passenger plane by the IRGC and in the midst of numerous crises, including the deadly Corona epidemic, deteriorating economic conditions, comprehensive sanctions, poverty, unemployment, inflation of 40 percent, class divide, the miserable situation of the majority of the people, unprecedented dissatisfaction with the regime and the state-nation divide and the expansion of the demands movement of different groups of people. There are many signs that the turnout in the presidential election will be exceptionally low.

Local council election, which will be held simultaneously with the June 18, 2021 presidential election, is part of a plan to unify the system. The IRGC commanders and their supporters, like in the presidential election, seek to take over local councils, especially in Tehran. Due to the people's turning away from the reformists, widespread corruption within some town and village councils and the inefficiency of most of them, the hard liners are more likely to win the councils election.

The election scene is not yet clear from the point of view of the composition of the Supreme Leader trusted candidates. However, any interaction with the candidates will be based on the current roadmap and therefore will not change the main trends. This election is one of the most mandatory and non-democratic elections in the Islamic Republic history.

We emphasize on "No" to mandatory elections, execution of free elections and the acceptance of free voting by the people. Holding of free elections is subject to the provision of conditions, including release of political prisoners, freedom of activity of opposition parties, trade unions, political associations, freedom of the press, assembly and free exchange of information.

Calling for a boycott of the mandatory election, the Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian) does not consider participating in the presidential election to be in the interest of the Iranian people's liberation and justice struggles against the tyrannical regime of the Islamic Republic. It is important that a combination of left-wing republican and democratic forces to make their "No" roar to the mandatory elections more resonant with their joint actions. By resorting to false promises, deceptive slogans, and this time possibly by false dualism of military and civilian, once again, the regime is trying to create electoral excitement to pave the way for the implementation of its anti-popular goals. By announcing our readiness for joint action with the republican democrat and left forces in the widespread boycott of this election, we call on the party supporters at home and abroad to make the "No" to the mandatory elections campaign more resonant in any way possible and isolate the regime as much as possible. In this campaign, the coordination and cooperation of the forces seeking the transition from the Islamic Republic to a secular and democratic republic play an important role. We call for free elections to form the Constituent Assembly and draft a constitution in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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

January 27, 2021

افزودن دیدگاه جدید

متن ساده

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • نشانی‌های وب و پست الکتونیکی به صورت خودکار به پیوند‌ها تبدیل می‌شوند.
CAPTCHA
کاراکترهای نمایش داده شده در تصویر را وارد کنید.
لطفا حروف را با خط فارسی و بدون فاصله وارد کنید