Iranians are either voting or not tomorrow

We haven’t been having good news coverage about the election in Iran. Most of the sources seem to be repeating the same thing over and over again. Based on an informal poll (don’t really know how reliable it is), the Mayor of Tehran is leading the race followed closely by Khamenei’s puppet Saeed Jalili. Reformists may or may not come together under Rowhani especially since the other Reformists guy who had more support has dropped out from the race. I think he did well, since splitting the vote between the two of them wouldn’t be good for either. Iran’s ex-Presidents, Rafsanjani and Khatami, have both endorsed the only Reformist candidate in the race.

I’ve been reading people’s opinions, inside and outside of Iran. I’m sensing that there’s a strong group of people who are pretty happy with the selection of the candidates. These people who are most likely to vote for Qalibaf or Jalili believe that in this tough time, Iran’s problems can only be resolved if they stick together under the leadership, support the best interests of Iran via strong revolutionary methods, being faithful to Islam and sticking up to western powers.

Mohsen Rezaee, another candidate, is Iran’s Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich. He seems to be running in every race and not getting more than 2% of the vote. This time around, he may get more supporters (voters) since the biggest problem facing the Iranians is the economy and he seems to have some credibility in this area. It’s hard to say for sure if he’s going to become the lead contender since the odds are heavily stacked against him.

We haven’t seen much of the Reformists in politics, at least not since 2001. In the last election (2009), which was a complete disaster, their candidate Mir Hussain Mossavi, was defeated by the incumbent President, Ahmadinejad. Remembering the past, I think even in the time of Khatami when the reformists won both consequent elections with the highest votes ever; they faced much obstructions and oppositions from the unelected conservatives. And if you can’t change anything when you already have 70% of the country behind you then there’s really something wrong with the political system.

There’s a large group of Iranians who will not be voting in the election. Why bother to vote when the authority has already hand-picked the candidates and there’s no telling if your votes would even be counted. Are any of the candidates even remotely anti-establishment? I was reading an opinion of an Iranian who expressed deep hatred and contempt for Khamenei. To him, Khamenei is nothing but a dictator. When he heard Khamenei’s urging every Iranians to vote in Friday’s election, he adamantly refused to follow the order. He won’t be voting. :)

Since Iran is still situated in the region overrun with dictators, I think voting is a novel experience and so the Iranians should vote, even if to cast a blank vote or vote for everyone in the list. Ideally you should vote for the guy who you think is the best that will represent your interest. And if this is not possible then perhaps look for someone who is less against your interest. If you can’t find anyone to vote, then perhaps next time considering running in the election so you can vote for the most desirable candidate.