Khamenei Urges Iranians to Participate in Elections amid General Disinterest

With Iran’s parliamentary vote scheduled in less than two months, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic accused people who shun elections of playing in the hands of “the enemy.”

"The enemy's ultimate goal is to isolate the populace, and low voter turnout aligns with their agenda," Ali Khamenei said on January 9. 

In recent years, tightly controlled elections in Iran have been marred by declining voter participation, particularly since widespread anti-government protests in 2017. 

Khamenei also said that many of the economic “deficiencies and challenges” faced by the country “stem from the absence of public engagement."

He did not address issues such as mass disqualification of election candidates, public grievances regarding social freedoms and economic hardships, or massive human rights violations. 

Iranian registered voters will be called to polling stations on March 1 to choose among thousands of candidates running for seats in the 290-seat parliament and the Assembly of Experts, a 88-member chamber of theologians that oversees the work of the supreme leader.

The Guardians Council, a powerful constitutional watchdog, disqualified more than 7,000 reformist candidates from the previous general election in 2020.

The upcoming vote will be the first since anti-establishment protests erupted across the country in September 2022, triggering growing acts of civil disobedience among the population.

The protests winded down early last year amid a brutal state crackdown on demonstrations in which more than 500 people were killed and over 22,000 others were unlawfully detained. 

Following biased trials, the judiciary handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters. At least eight of them have been executed so far.

As the country’s clerical establishment is still reeling from the Women, Life, Freedom protest movement, civil rights activists, students, religious minorities, artists and journalists continue to be beaten, detained and given harsh prison sentences.

Another critical issue officials must continue to deal with is the devastated economy resulting from economic sanctions. 

The country’s widening budget deficit continues to cripple the economy, with the International Monetary Fund reporting that the government debt is now equal to three annual budgets.

The value of the national currency, the rial, has plummeted, erasing many Iranians’ life savings and fuelling inflation (around 50 percent in 2023), leaving many Iranians struggling to meet basic needs.