ELECTIONS RESULTS CONFIRMS PEOPLE'S APATHY FOR THE REGIME
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor
PARIS 14TH Feb. (IPS) Official results from the Iranian legislative elections released Thursday by the Iranian Interior Ministry concerning the Tehran constituency calls for some comments and observations that are important for understanding the state of the Islamic Republic twenty years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution.
First and probably the most important message from the electors came in the form of the humiliating defeat they reserved for ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the 66 years-old cleric who, more than any other present leaders, not only is regarded as the regime's living pillar, but also it's symbol.
According to latest results, Mr. Rafsanjani did not get the 25 per cent of votes necessary to be elected in the first round and despite some reported cheating in his favour, including the adding up of thousands of ballots cast in the name of his daughter, Mrs. Fa'ezeh Hasehmi in his name in order to secure him a seat in the future Majles, he will need a second runoff to make his way into the House
Interior Ministry sources said Thursday that votes expressed in at least 100 polling stations in the Capital where rigging were reported concerning the Chairman of the Discernment Council were recounted, retarding the publication of final results for some more hours.
When the former president announced his decision to enter the race, he said he was urged by friends and family that he should accept this ultimate sacrifice in order the save the nation, to create jobs for the young ones, to revive the economy, to stimulate the nation etc.
Arrogantly, and as he had his eyes fixed on the Speaker's Chair of the Majles that had just moved to it's former historic building in the old centre of the Capital, he informed graciously all political parties, organisations, guilds and groups that he would not mind if they put his name on top of their lists of candidates,.
The "Godfather" was still perched on his pedestal, savouring the flurry of articles written in the press, debating the meaning and the consequences of his decision when reformist newspapers started to wake him up to realities by blaming him for the appalling economic situation, the generalised corruption, the crony system, the murders of more than eighty intellectual and political dissidents and his responsibility in prolonging for at least four more years the devastating war against Iraq, resulting in the loss of hundred thousands Iranian lives.
The resounding defeat of Mr. Rafsanjani coupled with the fact that out of the 30 candidates elected in Tehran, only 4 are clerics, with three of them, including hojatoleslam Mehdi Karrubi, a former Speaker enlisted by the reformists, among the last ten runners, sends two parallel messages: A) The growing apathy the balk of the population feels for the clergy after 20 years of stern clerical rule and B) The hate they have for the present Islamic system based on velayat e faqih, or the rule of the absolute leader in the one hand and the very person of ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i on the other.
"Elimination of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani from the political scene is the consequence of his constant presence at the summit of the regime for the past twenty years. It means that people wants a real change of the regime", observed Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, a Paris-based political analyst.
Seen in a mirror, the strong backing hojatoleslam Hadi Khameneh'i, the younger brother of the leader and an adviser to the president received from the voters confirms the unpopularity of his brother, observers explained.
An old guard reformist of the calibre of hojatoleslam Mohammad Kho'einiha, the Editor of the banned daily Salam, Mr. Hadi Khameneh'i stood up to both his brother and the conservatives when the ultras where in the zenith of their power. The votes he received are both an awarded for his courage and as many slaps for his brother, the elder Khameneh'i, observers says.
"Voters sanctioned all those who, one way or another, are either reminders of the past or stand witnesses to the continuity of the status-quo", noted the French leftist daily "Liberation" quoting Mr. Salamatian.
"Could some secular candidates have been wetted, they all would have been elected first hand", Professor Mohammad Reza Jalili of the Geneva-based Institute of Political Sciences told the newspaper.
Considering the fact that there are several conservatives instances above the Majles, all of them controlled by the leader, the important question facing both President Mohammad Khatami and the new MPs is could they bring the changes voters have so clearly demanded without risking serious clashes with the hard liners? ENDS ELECTIONS OBSERVATIONS 24200