Expatriates Urge Fellow Iranians to Boycott Presidential Election

News article

By: Laura Wides

Date: June 17, 2005

Source: Wides, Laura. "Expatriates Urge Fellow Iranians to Boycott Presidential Election." Associated Press. June 17, 2005.

About the Author: Laura Wides has written many articles on a wide range of topics for the Associated Press, a worldwide news agency based in New York.

INTRODUCTION

The Iranian expatriate reform movement called for a boycott of the 2005 presidential elections to protest the country's political structure, which critics say gives too little power to the country's citizens. Iran is an Islamic theocratic republic led by religious leaders, or mullahs, and (nominally) elected officials. Much of the protest against the country's political structure is generated by Iranians in the United States and other Western countries, who fled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Political views of the exiled reformers reach through television and radio programs broadcast into Iran via satellite, and through messages posted on websites.

The Supreme Leader and twelve-member Guardian Council hold most political power. Six council members are clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader, and six are lawyers recommended by the head of the judicial branch (who is appointed by the Supreme Leader) and approved by the legislature. The council reviews laws passed by the parliament to ensure their adherence to the constitution and Islamic Law.

The Assembly of Experts, a body of 86 members who are mujtahids, or experts in fiqh, or Islamic Law, selects the Supreme Leader, who serves for life (although in theory he could be replaced by the assembly at any time). There are public elections for president, parliament and the Assembly of Experts. However, the Guardian Council approves all candidates, rejecting any who have a reform agenda.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew Iran's last king, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Although he improved living standards for many Iranians and gave women the right to vote, he abolished all political parties but his own, jailed opponents and activists, and enforced strict censorship. Iranian religious leaders, or mullahs, denounced many of the shah's rulings as un-Islamic, and many ordinary Iranians distrusted his economic policies and believed his decisions were controlled by the United States. Violent pro-democracy protests ousted the shah, allowing the exiled cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah-Khomeini to return. When he took control of Iran as the Supreme Leader, hundreds of thousands opposed to the new theocracy fled the country.

The mullahs claim that the country supports their rule, citing high turnouts for prayers and elections. In the 2001 presidential election, for example, 68 percent of the 42 million eligible voters went to the polls. President Mohammad Khatami, whose term ended in 2005, had been elected by young Iranians and women who believed his campaign promises to bring about industrialization, democracy, and the rule of law. He was frequently defeated in his efforts to bring about social change, however, and lost most of his battles with the Guardian Council. His support waned, and expatriates encouraged their fellow Iraqis to boycott the 2005 election to show that this dissatisfaction was widespread. Politicians and researchers predicted that the 2005 elections would have a 30 to 60% voter turnout.

PRIMARY SOURCE

Expatriates Urge Fellow Iranians to Boycott Presidential Election

Iranian exiles are campaigning against presidential elections in their homeland, urging would-be voters in the Islamic republic and around the globe to boycott what they call a sham.

In Los Angeles, half a dozen television and radio stations that for years have criticized the Iranian government are beaming their message into Iran by satellite and Internet ahead of Friday's voting.

Reformists say that whether a hardliner or more moderate wins, the election only legitimizes the current regime, where supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final word on every important national issue.

"We are encouraging people to stay home," said Los Angeles-based TV journalist Homa Sarshar. "We want to show the world empty streets."

Sarshar and other expatriates see little difference between the leading candidates.

"One may be a little bit more liberal, one may be a little more conservative, but all are in the same camp. They accept the constitution, and the constitution is about a supreme leader who has the final word," she said.

Nacsrin Mohammadi—whose brothers have been tortured in prison since their 1999 arrest for leading the student movement in Iran—gave more than two-dozen interviews this week in Los Angeles, her voice hoarse from repeating her plea to other Iranis to boycott the election.

"I want people to stay home, not only for me, because my family has been destroyed, but so nobody else will have to go what we have gone through," she said through an interpreter.

Earlier, Mohammadi, 28, went on a three-day hunger strike to bring attention to students like her brothers, Manouchehr and Akbar, whom she says were starved and forced to watch each other being beaten until the bottoms of Akbar's feet split open and his toenails fell off. "We want the people of the world to know that Iranians, especially the youth, do not want this regime," she said.

Hossein Hedjazi, program director and host at KIRN AM 670 radio station, said he took an informal poll of listeners and all planned to boycott the election.

Those expatriates who do plan to vote may find it difficult. People born in Iran or to Iranian parents can cast their ballot, even if they become citizens of another country, but first they have to find a polling center. About 35 centers were announced nationwide. Yet in Southern California, where a third of the nation's roughly 1 million Iranians live, few organizations knew where the poll sites were as of Thursday. No Los Angeles sites were made public.

Despite the media storm, Hedjazi said he worried that some youth, who make up the majority of Iran's 70 million people, may be swayed by the heavy western-style campaigns.

Iranian rock and American rap has blared at political rallies. Candidates have given out free Internet access cards, and girls on roller skates have campaigned in knee-length tunics.

Hedjazi said some students may believe that even a conservative like front-runner Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president and successful businessman, is better than hardliner Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former police chief backed by Khamenei's allies.

Reformist candidate Mostofa Moin, who was initially barred from running, has warned that a boycott could pave the way for a totalitarian state, but many expatriates say his win won't change things as long as Khamenei remains in power.

"Even if 50 percent turnout, they think that this will be a big victory," Hedjazi said of the current regime. "It doesn't matter if they vote for or against them, that will demonstrate their legitimacy."

But Mohammadi said she believes people will not be swayed by the slick campaigns or political pressure to vote.

"All these changes will go away after the election," she said. "After 26 years, the people are very well informed and familiar with the tricks of the regime."

SIGNIFICANCE

The boycott failed to dissuade voters, more than 70% of whom turned out to elect conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former mayor of Tehran, to the presidency. While mayor, Ahmadinejad had overturned decisions made by previous moderate leaders. Ahmadinejad's presidency began by taking a hard-line stance on international issues, particularly the development of nuclear energy. The United States, Europe, and Israel fear that Iran's uranium enrichment program is being used to develop nuclear weapons, despite reassurances that it is intended only for domestic electricity production. Ahmdinejad's government has not cooperated with UN and IAEA inspection requests, resulting in a referral to the Security Council and possible economic or even military sanctions.

Many of those who supported the election boycott are against tough action against Iran, saying sanctions would only hurt the people, not change the government. Many Iranians also support the United States, something reformists think would change with a rigid approach. Stanford University's Iran Democracy project recommends focusing U.S. foreign policy on support for the struggling reform movement and involving the many young unemployed Iranians who are dissatisfied with the government. Increasing the broadcast of radio and television news and talk programs into Iran, and establishing diplomatic ties to Iran could also help bring change to Iran.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Alavi, Nasrin. We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Soft Skull Press, 2005.

Milani, Mohsen M. The Making of Iran's Islamic Revolution:From Monarchy to Islamic Republic. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994.

Periodicals

MacFarquhar, Neil. "Iran Reformists Split on Election Boycott." New York Times. June 10, 2005.

MacFarquhar, Neil. "Most Iranian Exiles in U.S. Oppose Military Attack." New York Times. May 9, 2006.

Shahidian, Hammed. "To Be Recorded in History: Researching Iranian Underground Political Activists in Exile." Qualitative Sociology. 24, no. 1 (2001): 55–81.

Web sites

BBC News. "Country Profile: Iran." April 20, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/790877.stm> (accessed May 22, 2006).