As the elections for Iran’s regime Assembly of Experts and parliament approach on Friday, March 1, glaring deficiencies in the facade of free elections come to light. Reports indicate that this election is poised to be one of the most contentious in the history of the Iranian regime, underscoring the fundamental contradiction between the principles of democratic elections and the escalating dominance of authoritarians in power.
Since the anti-monarchy revolution of 1979, which saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime and the establishment of the new regime under the banner of the ‘Islamic Republic’ by Ruhollah Khomeini, elections have been utilized as a tool to legitimize the ruling religious regime.
Rather than facilitating the transfer of power to the people of Iran, elections have been manipulated and abused, exacerbating the conflict between democratic principles and the regime’s authoritarian practices over time. Disputes between so-called ‘reformists’ and the regime-controlled extremists, known as ‘principlists’, have intensified.
The outcomes of screening and purification have left reformists seeking a share of power disappointed. All indications suggest that the principlists will maintain control of both the Assembly of Experts and the future parliament. The significance of the new Assembly of Experts lies in their primary agenda of selecting Khamenei’s successor as the regime’s supreme leader.
Consequently, candidates for the Assembly of Experts undergo meticulous scrutiny to ensure their allegiance to Khamenei. Mehdi Nasiri, a regime analyst and former editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, a key regime mouthpiece, recently revealed Khamenei’s intention to install his son Mojtaba Khamenei as the future supreme leader through a loyal Assembly of Experts.
With a history spanning 44 years, the electoral process has been systematically manipulated to favor extremists and quash any opposition. International observers with an interest in Iranian affairs highlight the absence of fair competition in the upcoming elections.
Candidates endorsed by the ultra-fundamentalist faction represent only a minuscule fraction of Iranian society at best, underscoring the regime’s illegitimacy and that of any election within the regime.
For instance, in 2021, the 12-member Guardian Council, led by the 97-year-old extremist Ahmad Jannati, barred 99% of the regime’s reformist candidates from participating in the presidential elections. Such measures underscore Khamenei’s determination to maintain his hegemony at any cost.
These actions are the regime’s response to escalating economic crises such as inflation and unemployment, as well as its apprehension regarding public discontent and protests.
Repression and instilling fear in society through frequent executions serve as additional indicators of the regime’s precarious position. Last year alone, the regime executed 864 people, with 83 executions occurring in January of this year. The brutal amputation of at least three individuals’ fingers on charges of theft and the court-approved gouging of another person’s left eye under the medieval rule of ‘retribution in kind’ exemplify the regime’s brutality.
Over the past four decades, the regime’s attempts to portray democracy through rigged and engineered elections have been resoundingly unsuccessful. The Iranian people’s demands for a radical regime change have grown louder.
Desperate and apprehensive of the consequences of a boycott of the elections by the people, Khamenei has resorted to religious manipulation by issuing a fatwa declaring participation in the elections a ‘public duty’ and a ‘religious obligation’.
In the oppressive dictatorship of the mullahs, elections are gradually losing their true essence, to the extent that they struggle to field a sufficient number of candidates from their own factions to participate in their farcical elections.
In the latest developments, the state-run Ham Mihan newspaper, commenting on the regime’s elections, stated:
“In seven provinces, there is no competition; Among these seven provinces, Zanjan and Shiraz provinces are particularly notable; While there are five seats available in Shiraz, only four have been confirmed, meaning that one seat will remain vacant if elections are held there.
“But the situation is even more intriguing in Zanjan province; While apparently only one seat is available, no one has been confirmed as eligible, as per the secretary of the electoral headquarters of the province, ‘no confirmed case has been announced yet’. This is happening in a scenario where competition for one-third of the seats in the Assembly of Experts remains undecided.”
The newspaper further added: “The announcement of the results of the eligibility verification indicates that, compared to previous periods, the sixth election of the Assembly of Experts is the least competitive, as if four individuals from the North Khorasan district have been verified, there will be no competition for elections in 10 provinces in total. Currently, on average, only one and a half individuals are competing per seat.”
