Standpoint of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan on the coming legislative elections in Iran
The Supreme Council which is in charge of the elections, has just pointed out the date of 11 to 17 December 1999 for the candidates to put their name down for the general elections which are to be held on 18 February 2000 .
For the two trends existing within the regime, these elections are particulary important, because they both estimate that a victory in these elections will be a decisive factor in the disagreements and feuds between them. That is why, since one year, they have been striving with all the means at their disposal to prepare the ground for their voctory. Although their disagreements cover various fields, almost all recent events, including the arrest of Mr. Abdullah NOURY and Mr. Masha-allah SHMSOLVAEZINE as well as the shutting down of certain newspapers belonging to the trend known as reformist, only represent a small part of the fierce fight ranging between the two trends on the subject of the general elections.
In truth, Iran is still a long way from healthy and democratic elections, for there are still various legal and illegal, declared and undeclared obstacles on the way of the candidates and of the electors, preventing the former from being elected and the latter from electing freely.
However, it cannot be denied that the liberation movement of the population during the past few years and, to a lesser degree, the disagreements between the various trends within the regime have created the possibility, however small, of holding elections - inasmuch as the men in power cannot any longer transform the elections into a farce, nor bring out of the ballot-boxes puppet candidates in their pay.
Under these circumstances, the Kurdish population and the population of the whole of Iran should not remain indifferent. On the contrary, without falling into the trap of the disagreements between the trends existing within the government, they must commit themselves entirely to sending trustworthy candidates to the 6th Assembly. None of these trends has proposed a program to solve, in particular, the problems of the Kurdish population deprived of its most elementary rights and, in general, the problems of the entire Iranian population. This is why the Kurdish population, far removed from the internal fights between these trends, must vote for the candidates it considers trustworthy - candidates who, once inside the Assembly, will dare to speak of the misery and suffering of the Kurdish population and to defend its rights and freedoms, including its national rights. That is why we ask patriotic Kurdish personalities who are concerned with the fate of their people to run in the elections in order to serve the aspirations of their people and to defend its rights.
Under circumstances where it is possible, in certain fields, to make the regime back down and to force it to abandon some of its stands, it would be unworthy of popular and patriotic Kurdish personalities to remain indifferent and to avoid the responsibilities which are incumbent upon them.
We also ask the Kurdish population to actively support the candidates it deems trustworthy and to bring pressure to bear on the authorities so that they could not, under this or that pretext, or else by antidemocratic decrees, strike off the electoral list the candidates trusted by the Kurds, and, last but not least, we ask to vote for these candidates.
We must not spare any effort to send the true candidates of the Kurdish population to the 6th Assembly and to support them actively, so that they, confident of their own personality and far removed from the working of the trends within the regime, could defend the claims of the Kurdish population as well as freedom and democracy for the whole of Iran. We are convinced that the unwavering willpower of the popular masses and a just understanding of the present period's duties may have good results for the Kurdish population and for the cause of freedom in the whole of Iran.
Political Bureau
