After excluding their candidates... How will Iran's reformists deal with the elections?

The Reform Front announced that it does not have any candidate in the upcoming elections (Iranian press)

Tehran -

The exclusion of the majority of the candidates of the reformist and moderate parties in Iran by the Guardian Council has raised questions about the reformist camp’s options for dealing with the electoral entitlement scheduled for the beginning of next March. Will the reformist front accept the exclusion of its candidates from the electoral race, or will it move toward a boycott?

With the launch of electoral campaigns in light of the dominance of the conservative camp over the joints of the revolutionary state, this electoral scene casts a shadow over the usual state of competition between the two trends. Electoral competition has always emerged in the Islamic Republic between the conservative and reformist trends over the past decades.

Apathy prevails in election campaigns in Iran (Al Jazeera)

The position of the reformists

In light of the tireless efforts being made by major conservative figures these days in order to reunite their family, which is suffering from the large number of candidates and electoral lists, in Tehran and other major cities, the Reform Front in Iran pre-empted the period of propaganda campaigns by announcing that it does not have a candidate in the upcoming elections, and that it does not support a candidate. last.

In a press conference held by the Front in the capital, Tehran, its head, Azar Mansouri, said, “We are not putting ourselves before the duality of boycott and participation, but the current circumstances do not enable us to present electoral lists.” She attributed the reason to the Guardian Council’s rejection of the reformists’ candidates, and the role of the election supervision mechanism in That, and the influence of uninvolved institutions in the electoral process.

She continued, "The Reform Front in the capital does not decide for the reformist parties in the other governorates, and that the reformist councils and fronts in each governorate will make the right decision regarding whether or not to enter the electoral arena, according to their circumstances in those areas."

When she pointed out that a segment of Iranians feel the inability to pursue popular demands through the ballot boxes, Mansouri denied that there was any tendency for reformists to form alliances with the moderate movement or moderate conservatives in the upcoming elections.

Open the hatch

The diplomatic language used by Mansouri did not prevent a group of Iranian observers from decoding it and considering the reformists’ position as carrying a “veiled call for a boycott,” but the statement of 110 reformist activists increased the confusion of the reformists’ audience by calling for them to “open a window” and actively participate in the upcoming elections, before it was announced. The official media reported on the reformists presenting a list in Tehran.

In contrast to the Reform Front's call, the signatories of the statement stress the necessity of adopting realism rather than idealism, in light of the difficult circumstances the country is going through, and working to form a strong minority in the next parliament, considering that the ballot boxes represent the least expensive option to bring about any transformation and change.

Commenting on the “Al-Kawa Statement,” Reform Front spokesman Jawad Imam reminds his colleagues that the number of reformist candidates who have qualified to run in the electoral arena is barely 30 candidates across the country, and that “it would have been better for the signatories of the statement to demand the opening of a crossing instead of the Al-Kawa,” because Because the ruling authorities have completely mined the road through appropriate supervision, and have created control points to prevent any reformist from crossing,” he said.

In a press conference held in the capital, Tehran, the reformist spokesman demanded that the ballot boxes be returned to the people, accusing the ruling authorities of stealing the ability to compete from the people who turned their backs on the electoral process in protest against the current reality.

Reformist activist Abtahi: The concept of boycotting elections is outside the calculations of reformists (Iranian press)

Sharing challenge

Commenting on the media reports that attributed the “Voice of the People” list, led by moderate politician Ali Motahhari, to the reformist movement, Jawad Imam wrote on the X platform a tweet in which he said, “We refute the claims of the government news agency and its affiliated media about the reformists presenting an electoral list, and we reiterate our assertion that the Iranian Reforms Front “It does not have a list for the elections of next March 1.”

He added, "It is not permissible for parties and members of the (Reformist) Front to support acting or non-reformist candidates, nor will they accept a list imposed on them."

In a reading of the position of the reformist movement on participating in the upcoming elections, the reformist activist Muhammad Ali Abtahi, who served as head of the office of former President Muhammad Khatami, told Al Jazeera Net that “the reformist camp believes in political action and reforming the affairs of the country through the ballot boxes, which makes the concept of boycotting the elections out of the question.” "His accounts."

He continued, "The Iranian voter has had his say through the ballot boxes whenever the opportunity for real competition arises, and has chosen reformist candidates for the elections more than once, but the mechanism for supervising the eligibility of candidates has turned into a major challenge used to exclude reformist candidates."

Abtahi considered that "the biggest challenge in the upcoming elections is the Iranian voter's unwillingness to go to the polls, and not the rejection of the majority of reformist candidates," stressing that he sees a direct relationship between real competition and popular participation in the Iranian elections.

The reformist activist accused the authorities concerned with holding the elections "of not paving the way for increasing popular participation, out of their desire to keep the political current that currently holds the government, parliament, and judicial authority at the helm of affairs."

Abtahi concluded that “the reformists agree not to put forward any list in Tehran, as that is impossible due to the disqualification of the majority of reformist figures in the capital,” adding that “parties under the umbrella of the reformist front can declare their support for reformist candidates in other provinces.”

Respected county

Political analyst close to the reformist movement, Youssef Akandeh, believes that the official position of the reformists regarding participation in the elections represents “a green light for voter reluctance to go to the ballot boxes,” considering that “the meaning of the reformist discourse indicates a respectful boycott of the elections.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Akandeh explains the reason for the reformist movement’s resort to using diplomatic language regarding participation in the electoral entitlement to “its keenness to block the way for those lurking around it to remove it from the political scene.”

Akandeh described the information about the disqualification of the majority of the reformist movement’s candidates as “false,” because “prominent reformist figures did not apply to run because of their knowledge of the Iranian voter’s disappointment as a result of the events of the past two years, and his despair of improving the living situation.”

He also saw that "there is no room for the reformists to ally themselves with other political forces, including the moderates, at the current stage, because the support of the reformist movement for former President Hassan Rouhani, who is affiliated with the moderate movement, has cost the reformists their popularity."

As for the “Al-Kuwa Statement,” Akandeh believes that it is “an indication of splits in the reformist house that may expand in the future,” attributing the reason to “the desire of the ruling authorities for this, and the harmony of some moderate parties outside the reformist movement with the official will, and their desire to adopt a new policy that guarantees their survival.” In the Iranian political scene.

The Iranian researcher concluded that "the conservative movement that currently holds the helm of government is betting on low popular participation in the elections, because it has an organized audience that will vote in its favor, based on religious and ideological justifications."

Source: Al Jazeera