Why are a group of Iranians turning to protest voting?

A model of a ballot box in a street in Tehran urging citizens to vote (European)

Tehran -

Iranians are reacting dually to the election campaigns that are about to end at dawn next Thursday, and despite the timid propaganda and coldness that dominates the electoral scene, especially in the capital, Tehran, it seems that the discussion regarding the “protest vote” is heating up among political circles.

After the High Election Commissions in Iran, over the past few decades, had become accustomed to announcing the percentage of invalid votes after each election, the Guardian Council’s rejection of the eligibility of former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to run in the elections for the Assembly of Experts brought the discussion back about the “dualism of protest voting and boycott.” The interface again.

Rouhani himself was the first to raise the issue of the protest vote this time, as he indicated in a statement issued after his removal from the electoral field to “the necessity of protesting against the plan to remove the ballot boxes and remove the republic from the system,” stressing the necessity of “finding a way for the protest vote to become the expressive voice.” "For the Iranian people."

Invalid votes

In light of the demands of the opposition forces inside and outside Iran to boycott the elections, the issue of non-participation was not heeded by the senior leadership of the reformist movement, which in turn objected to the Guardian Council not approving the disqualification of the majority of its candidates.

But the diplomatic language used by former President Hassan Rouhani to register the Iranian voter’s objection was enough to bring back “the phenomenon of invalid votes or blank ballots in the Iranian elections” to the forefront and raise it in political circles that are wary of repeating it in the upcoming March 1 elections.

After the percentage of invalid votes in successive electoral cycles over the past few decades ranged from 2 to 3% of the total votes, it rose in the 2021 presidential elections to about 13%, ranking second after the people’s choice that resulted in the victory of President Ibrahim Raisi.

Thus, the previous presidential elections recorded an increase in the percentage of invalid votes compared to the presidential election in 2017, which re-elected Hassan Rouhani as president for a second term, where about 2 million and 700 thousand ballot papers of the invalid votes, which amounted to 4 million and 500 thousand votes, went in favor of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. After the Guardian Council rejected his eligibility to run.

Apathy prevails in the election campaigns in Iran (Al Jazeera)

Different readings

While Iranians agree that invalid votes have social and political connotations, they are divided, at the same time, regarding Rouhani’s call on voters to vote “to protest against the ruling minority” and what he means by protest voting, while a third segment shares the opposition’s opinion abroad about the necessity of boycotting the elections.

In addition to a segment warning of the consequences of abstaining from voting and the high percentage of white papers, which will ensure the continued control of the conservatives over Parliament, another segment provides a different reading about the meaning of Rouhani’s statements, and believes that he wants to vote in favor of some candidates to thwart the plan aimed at continuing the status quo by excluding many candidates. From the electoral arena.

Mohammad Tavassoli, Secretary-General of the opposition “Nahdat Azadi Iran” party, called - in a tweet on the X platform - to boycott the upcoming elections as “a more civil protest behavior to pursue national demands aimed at achieving structural reforms in the constitution.”

The first stage of the elections for the 12th session of the Iranian Parliament will be held on March 1, 2024 (Iranian press)

Protest vote

Hesameddin Ashena, an advisor to the former Iranian president, tweeted on Platform

The spokesman for the reformist “Etemad Milli” party, Ismail Karami Moghaddam, considered the Guardian Council’s rejection of the eligibility of reformist and moderate candidates “politicized,” and attributed the reason why a group of Iranian politicians preferred the protest vote to their desire to object to the behavior of the Guardian Council and the performance of the ruling authorities, especially Parliament. Present.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Moghadam said, “A spectrum of the reformist and moderate trends see protest voting as a way to preserve the electoral process and not neglect the electoral entitlement instead of boycotting, stressing the necessity of participating in the elections and voting for lists and candidates who oppose the policy of monopolizing power.”

61 million 172 thousand and 298 Iranians are entitled to vote in the 2024 elections (Al Jazeera)

White papers

Moghadam concluded that the Iranian voter's hope remains with the protest vote to prevent the extremist movement from regaining control over Parliament, explaining that a significant segment of reformists and moderates see the independent "Voice of the People" list led by politician Ali Motahhari as a correct choice for registering the protest vote.

Conservative politician Muhammad Muhajiri believes that the white papers in the elections indicate the voter’s protest against the status quo, and would be better than a boycott, as it would result in increasing popular participation on the one hand, and confirming the voter’s commitment to the electoral system on the other hand.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Mohajiri attributed the reason why a segment of Iranian voters prefer the protest vote and the white paper vote to the removal of their candidates from the electoral arena or the absence of a suitable candidate to meet their aspirations from the next parliament, explaining that he believes that Hassan Rouhani’s statement calls on protesting voters to cast white papers in protest. On the electoral oversight mechanism and the electoral process.

Election campaigns in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, are cold (Al Jazeera)

Protest signals

When the conservative political activist pointed out that a segment of government employees participated in the white paper in order to distinguish themselves from those boycotting the electoral process, he expressed his regret that the ruling authority did not pick up on the signals of the Iranian voter, which he recorded during the last elections through invalid votes.

Following Iran’s 2021 presidential elections, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said - when he received President Ebrahim Raisi and officials of the judiciary - that “whoever comes to the electoral centers is not angry at the ballot box, but rather wants to vote, but when he does not see the ideal candidate, he casts an invalid vote.” "He's clearly interested in elections, interested in the ballot box, and interested in the system."

With the exception of the protest vote, which aims to prevent the candidates of a specific movement from winning the majority of seats in Parliament and the Guardian Council, a segment of Iranian observers believe that the invalid votes and white papers will reflect positively on the continuation of the status quo in the country.

Source: Al Jazeera