Iran’s presidential elections are over: Ebrahim Raisi remains the favorite

Iranians voted on Friday, without much enthusiasm, to elect a new president, in a process that has ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi as a big favorite take back the reins of a country in the grip of a serious economic and social crisis.

Voting lasted two hours from the initial closing time to allow for maximum turnout in good condition of voters given the COVID-19 pandemic which is hitting the country hard.

Electoral colleges they officially closed at 2 a.m. on Saturday (9:30 p.m. GMT Friday).

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cast the first vote in Tehran, declaring the polling stations open, and He called on the nearly 60 million voters to fulfill their “civic” duty “as soon” as possible.

The widespread unrest among citizens of this country plagued by COVID-19 and US sanctions, and the disqualification of hundreds of election candidates make predict a strong abstention, which could beat the record of 57% of the legislative elections of 2020.

Without official figures, the agency Fars, close to the ultraconservatives, reported, without giving the source, an average participation of 23% shortly before five in the afternoon local time (12:30 GMT).

Of the seven authorized candidates, three of whom withdrew on Wednesday, the big favorite is Raisi, 60 years old and head of the judicial authority.

The results will be known at the end of the morning on Saturday and, In the event that no candidate obtains 50% of the votes, a second round will take place on June 25 between the two most voted.

“Someone has already been chosen”

The campaign was bland, with few election posters in the capital, Tehran, the vast majority of which showed Raisi’s austere face in his black turban.

His rivals are a little-known MP, Amirhosein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi; a former commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohsen Rezai, and a technocrat, Abdolnaser Hemati, former president of the Central Bank and the only one considered reformist in the race.

“Yesor I love my country, but I do not accept these candidates“He told the AFP Abolfazi, a 60-year-old blacksmith who defended the Islamic revolution of 1979, but it is now said disappointed policy options that exist.

Said Zarii, a trader, did not vote either. “Vote for no […], someone has already been chosen: they organize the elections for the mediaHe commented.

The president has limited powers in Iran, where the real power is in the hands of Ayatollah Khamenei.

Marked by sanctions

El president Hassan Rohani, a moderate committed to opening up to the West and expanding individual freedoms, was re-elected in 2017 in the first round with a participation of 73%. He was unable to re-run after two consecutive four-year terms.

This Friday after the vote, he admitted that he would have liked to see “more people” participate. “The elections are important no matter what and despite the problems we have to go and vote,” said Rouhani, referring to the disqualified candidates.

One of them was the former ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who published a video message on Friday denouncing the elections organized “against the interests of the country”. “I don’t want to participate in this sin”, He said.

Hopes sparked by moderate Rohani’s election turned to disappointment after the coup it meant the withdrawal of the United States in 2018 from the Iranian nuclear agreement signed three years earlier in Vienna. The resulting reinstatement of US sanctions has compounded the discontent and rejection of the Iranian authorities, who experienced two waves of protests during the northern winter of 2017-2018 and in November 2019, both of which were violently repressed.

For the opposition in exile and the NGOs, Raisi is the epitome of repression and his name is associated with the mass executions of left-wing inmates in 1988, though he denies any involvement.

The priority of the next president should be economic recovery. At this stage, all the candidates agree that this requires the lifting of the American sanctions imposed under the government of Donald trump.

By Frank Zeller (AFP)

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