Editorial of the “World”. The Islamic Republic of Iran has opted for an unprecedented lockdown of the June 18 presidential election. For the first time since the election of reformer Mohammad Khatami in 1997, the ballot was held without real competition. The candidatures of the main reforming figures of the country, as well as of conservative personalities, had been invalidated upstream by the Council of Guardians of the Constitution, in order to assure the head of the judicial authority, the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raïssi, a victory without a hitch.
In doing so, the regime broke with a tradition that until then offered a semblance of democratic exercise during the presidential election, in a face-to-face between two camps: the supporters of the reforms, favorable to an opening in society and towards the world, against the partisans of the Islamic revolution, advocates of an anti-Western line and a greater limitation of freedoms in Iran. At 82, the Supreme Guide, Ali Khamenei, organizes his succession. He wants her without turmoil, without internal struggles. And, the president-elect, Ebrahim Raïssi, 60, is one of the likely candidates.
Strong abstention
In this election, the voice of the Iranians was not heard. Many of them did not vote – 51.2% abstained, according to final results published on June 19 – due to the election being locked out, but also because they no longer believe it is possible to reform the political system by the ballot box. The election of Ebrahim Raïssi should certainly not have an impact in the negotiations underway on the nuclear issue, which a majority of Iranians support. The reestablishment of international sanctions under former President Donald Trump is far from weakening the Iranian regime, but has worsened the living conditions of the population, brought millions of people to economic stall and weakened the middle class, the engine of change in the country. In campaign, Ebrahim Raïssi has said his intention to honor the agreement concluded in 2015 with the international community, on the instructions of the Supreme Guide. The latter is determined to save the nuclear deal to obtain in return a lifting of sanctions and an economic recovery.
But the election of Ebrahim Raïssi could have serious consequences for Iranians who call for more rights and freedoms. Their demands – freedom of the press, the right to live in dignity, respect for meritocracy in access to public positions, transparency of power and detente with the world – could not be expressed during of the June 18 poll. The Iranians pay a heavy price every time they try to be heard, whether during protests – the last of which in 2019 were bloodily suppressed – or through peaceful actions.
Ebrahim Raïssi has a dismal human rights record.In 1988, when he was only 28, he was one of four judges who ruled on the lives and deaths of thousands of political prisoners. . Ebrahim Raïssi has always shown loyalty to the repressive machinery of the Islamic Republic of Iran, playing a key role in the biggest cases of human rights violation. During his reign at the head of the judicial authority (2019-2021), the arrest of political activists and their sentence to heavy prison terms became the rule. The election of Ebrahim Raïssi to the presidency is very bad news for Iranian civil society.
