Millions of Iranians will head to the polls to elect a new president. In Iran, the president is limited to serve only two consecutive terms. In the current contest on June 18, all candidates vying for the office are new. Iran does not have political parties, only various political trends.
In a region wracked by mayhem and violence, the people of Iran participated in the 12th presidential election in a calm and peaceful atmosphere returning the incumbent, President Hassan Rouhani to a second term in office.
No political system is entirely free. In the West, elections are bought as we witness in the US. Yet Islamic Iran’s electoral system is ridiculed because it wants to protect the achievements of the Islamic revolution.
Defying Western predictions and negative propaganda, Iranians in their tens of millions turned out for two crucial elections on Friday February 26 to elect 290 members to a new Majlis (Parliament) and 88 members to a new Assembly of Experts. Both elections are seen as important landmarks as they come less than a year after a nuclear deal was signed with the group of P5+1 countries. The Rahbar, Imam Khamenei was among the first to cast ballot.
Two crucial elections are scheduled for this month in the Islamic Republic: for the Majlis and the Assembly of Experts. There is immense excitement about both.
On March 14 Iranians in overwhelming numbers participated in the country’s 28th elections since the Islamic Revolution (1979) to elect members of the eighth Majlis (parliament). At least 25 million people, constituting more than 60 percent of the electorate, cast their ballots to choose 290 members from a field of 4,225 candidates.
The results of the Iranian Majlis elections in February silenced many who had expected them to produce a massive popular rejection of the Islamic system. But in Islamic Iran people are looking ahead, not back. ZAFAR BANGASH looks forward...
Over the last few weeks, the Western media has watched keenly as Iran went to the polls to elect a new Majlis (parliament), highlighting every perceived shortcoming in the electoral procedure and hoping that the elections would prompt a crisis in Iran’s Islamic system of government...
