Iran is always a center of attention in the world news, whether it is the cold rift between Iran and the United States, the animosity between Iran and Israel or the nuclear agenda of the Iranian government. They are never clear of the newspapers. Some, mostly Muslim countries, present them in a positive image while the others, mostly western, term them as the bad guys of the international community. Regardless of what anyone’s personal opinion is about them; they are certainly an important element of the international scenario -politically, strategically, geographically and otherwise.
Mostly for the aforementioned reasons, the upcoming presidential elections of Iran is a hot topic among political analysts, journalists and politicians alike. The Islamic Republic of Iran is all set for their 11th election of a president of the countery on the 14th of June. And with the Election Day looming closer, the excitement levels are rising not just among the Iranians but also among their friends and foes.
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad who is regarded with respect throughout most of the Muslim world will not be contending the elections as he has held the office twice already -no Iranian president can hold the office for more than two terms. But there are some other interesting faces up for the competition too. Eight candidates out of a total of six hundred and eighty were accepted to run by the Guardian Council. The list was announced by the interior ministry after a thorough check of all the applicants by the Guardian Council; a body consisting of 12 jurists and 12 theologians.
According to the Iranian constitution, any Iranian Muslim above the age of 21 who is always loyal to the constitution can contend for elections. The list of strong runners is quite interesting if looked at deeply. We have Akbar Ali Valayeti -a physician and former foreign minister who is considered the bricklayer of Iran’s tough foreign policies and strong standpoints. Then there is the current mayor of Tehran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who is quite popular among the poor for his populist policies but is termed as a supporter of current policies. The next two candidates would give the other side of the story; Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel whose approval as a candidate was a proof against the allegations of government controlled elections as he had openly criticized the previous regime while he was the speaker of parliament, and so is Hassan Rowhani who was making deals to suspend Iran’s nuclear program, slams Ahmedinejad’s policies and purports to be a moderate middle man for relations with the west.
According to most of the western media that went bonkers over alleged rigging in the last elections that Ahmedinejad won with a clear majority, even these elections would be biased -but that is just one opinion. Knowing how the west never misses an opportunity to criticize Iran or the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; I have clear doubts over trusting the media. We need to understand that the Iranian public has always supported the verdict of their Supreme Leader, and that all the protests and reservations people have about their governmental system represents just a chunk of their population and not all of it. Just like all other countries in the world, there are more than one political school of thought and the media should go a little easy on those who win the mandate.
Nevertheless, the voting process will be the same expect for one big change; for the first time in the presidential elections history, an electoral commission will be supervising the elections. The commission will constitute 11 members; seven of them will be legal experts, one will be from the parliament and three will be from the law enforcement department. And this will affect some of the powers previously held solely by the interior ministry. The incorporation of electoral commission into the whole setup is certainly an answer to the cynics who blamed the country for rigging in the 2009 elections.
The future of Iran’s political game plan could be one of two quite opposite ends; one being the allies of the current system supported by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or the other that opposes it. Knowing the Iranian people and the love most of them have for their Supreme Leader, I think that whoever comes to power will seek to maintain the rights of their people and not let external influence alter the fate of their country. Iran is going through a rough phase; being probably the only country that has gone out of the way to help the deserted Palestinians and the sovereignty of Syrian government, it was hit by sanctions and criticism from all over the world. I won’t be surprised if many of the readers disagree with me on this, but it is true that Iran was fighting against external and internal forces at the same time -the former being a main reason for the latter. Being one of the major strongholds that the Muslim world has, I believe that Iran needs all the support we can offer to them; I pray for a safe election that would hopefully turn out to be good for the country’s future and the strength they need to cope up with their difficulties.
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