Exclusive on Elections: Live Ambition as Iranians Prepare to Go to Polls
24 hours before the end of the campaign deadline, the political atmosphere is prevailing as different fronts and groups are racing against time to make best use of the big polling day.
In the 33rd election, 33 years after the victory of the Iranian Islamic revolution, 3444 candidates from 31 provinces will be competing on Friday in the parliamentary election.
The Supreme Leader images and words dominate the billboards in Iran, a sign that fronts are united and agree upon the foundations of Islamic Revolution. Slogans such as "Elections are a sign of a nation's livelihood and awareness" and "the more lively the elections are, the greater the Iranian nation's grandeur in the eyes of the enemies" can be seen throughout Tehran. In the past months, the authorities of the country have insisted on different occasions on stressing the importance of the upcoming Majlis elections. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on 15th of February that the enthusiastic and massive presence of the people in the demonstrations marking the victory of the Islamic Revolution is indicative of the extraordinary insight of the Iranian people.
Yesterday, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad underscored the significance of electing qualified lawmakers in the votes for a ‘strong' Majlis that is ‘key' to the country's progress.
He added that "The Iranian people have always played their part properly. A qualified Majlis can play an effective and determining role in the country's advancement."
Three different fronts are the main contestants:
1- The United Front of Principalists:
The United Front of Principalists is basically the main group formed of different Principalist groups and parties grouped around Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani (Chairman of the Assembly of Experts).
Hossein Fadaei, secretary general of the Society of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution, one of the key parties of the front, says that the election is competitive and adds "For the upcoming election, different points of views are participating and presenting their views and plans and this will have a positive effect on the political landscape."
In an interview with moqawama.org, he said "there is no deviation in the principle of unity and that the reason of numerous Principalist lists is differences between their approach, priority and assessment of the situation, not about the key characteristics."
Finally, Fadaei predicted that the reformists will have the same numbers of seats in the next parliament than the current one.
The front has announced a list of 230 candidates throughout Iran and its main slogan is "Rationality and Spirituality, Justice and Development under the aegis of the Supreme Leader"
2- The Islamic Revolution Resistance Front
The Islamic Revolution Resistance Front is another Principalist group built around Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, formed of former Ahmadinejad ministers.
After not reaching agreement with the United Front of Principalists, they announced a separate list.
Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, the speaker of the Islamic Revolution Resistance Front, says "To defend the values of the Islamic Republic, we can only use the method that is adequate to that objective."
He points out that the "Charter of Principalism", developed by the two prominent religious organizations of Combatant Clergy Association and Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, has defined the foundations of Principalism and is a consensus among us and that "Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani is one of the pillars of the revolution that we have enormous respect for his opinions."
The former health minister adds to moqawama.org that "before the announcement of the candidate lists, we did our best to reach a common ground, but unfortunately we didn't succeed. But we still have a positive view, that's why the top candidate of them and 5 others are in our list. We have great respect for the role that Mr. Gholam-Reza Haddad-Adel played in the Majlis."
The Resistance Front is competing with 180 candidates and its main slogan is "Rationality, Spirituality and Justice on the axis of the Supreme Leader"
3- Reformists
On the other side of the political spectrum, although most of the groups and parties that were involved in the sedition after the 2009 presidential election, abstained from putting up candidates, other reformists will run in this election.
Incumbent Mostafa Kavakebian, secretary general of the reformist "Democracy Party", says "It's the duty of all of us to take serious the election so that we can take positive steps toward development and growth, and reducing the problems. "
Kavakebian who will compete for a seat from the city of Semnan, believes that mass participation will strengthen the national security.
His answer to his fellows that criticize him for participating in the election is that they themselves had said before that "the only way to make reforms is through ballots". He adds "I really don't understand that although they are aware of the negative consequences of this policy and method they still speak of boycotting the election".
His front has published a list of 115 candidates, 15 for Tehran.
Main Competition
According to statistics, 48,288,799 people are eligible to vote this year and the candidates are competing for 290 seats, 30 in the capital Tehran.
A Survey by the Alumni Association of the Social Science Graduates of University of Tehran was conducted this week, predicting a participation of 65 percent of the eligible voters throughout the country.
This survey also shows that although many groups have been formed (at least 19 lists only in the capital where 652 candidates compete), the main competition will be between the two Principalist fronts.
Both Principalist fronts define themselves as "true defenders" of the political line of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and their main slogan shows their similarity fundamentally.
Given that some political analysts have questioned the existence of the two main fronts, Ali-Reza, a 31 year engineer, has a completely different opinion about it. He says "In the previous elections my choices were limited and because I didn't know all the people in the announced list, I had problems about selecting 30 candidates. Now it's much easier, I can choose from two different lists that are followers of the true value of the Islamic Republic."
Source: moqawama.org
