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| Mehsa Mehdili |
Presidential and City Council elections in Iran will be held on June 18. Political commentator Mahsa Mehdili said in an interview with Voice of America that, "Until now, the nations living in Iran went to the polls with some hope for change. But now, the majority of society has come to the conclusion that elections are just a game to protect this dictatorial system."
“We’ve always been watching a show. Or rather, what we’ve lived through has shown us this. During election periods, they created an atmosphere of competition. They introduced candidates with slightly different slogans. We saw this during the Khatami era, and also during Ahmadinejad and Rouhani’s periods. The candidates’ platforms were filled with slogans about democracy, human rights, and so on. They made promises based on the pulse of every nation living in Iran.”
Current President Hassan Rouhani made promises during his election campaigns in Azerbaijan regarding education in the Turkish language and the establishment of a "Turkish Language Institute." However, in April, he dismissed the demand for mother-tongue education as a “conspiracy of the enemies.”
Mahsa Mehdili says, "Of course, they have means to test public opinion. They conduct surveys. They do research. For example, they knew that there was discomfort in Azerbaijan about the issue of mother-tongue education and the drying up of Lake Urmia. Hassan Rouhani came, and he built his promises on these issues in Azerbaijan. He made promises and created excitement.”
The political commentator states that Iranian society has now “learned from the past.”
“Nations living in Iran have paid various prices until today. Each time, they went to the polls with some hope that things would change. In a closed society like Iran, this is normal. But now, the discrepancy between their actions and their statements has become so high that society has started to learn from it... For example, we saw the highest number of prisoners during Hassan Rouhani’s period. We didn’t see any change in executions. We didn’t see any change in women’s rights. It’s not just Rouhani; even though they are painted in different colors, they are all the same. Society has now come to the conclusion that elections are just a game to protect this dictatorial system.”
Pointing out that the Presidential elections and the Islamic City and Rural Councils elections are held on the same day, Mahsa Mehdili adds, "The simultaneous holding of the City Council and Presidential elections is a tactic. Society sees the presidency as not a serious position, and understands that the president is just a servant to the leader. The situation is different in the councils. In Iran, the political environment is closed. There are no parties. But in City Council elections, the atmosphere opens up a bit. In small regions and villages, inter-tribal or local prominent figures compete, creating excitement. People are influenced by this and go to the polls, even though the City Council doesn’t have significant authority.”
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Məhsa Mehdili: İran toplumu keçmişdən dərs çıxarıb, seçkilərin oyun olduğunu bilir