On the Results of the Presidential Election in
Iran
On
Friday, 8 June 2001, the presidential election in Iran was conducted.
The day after, on Saturday, 9 June 2001, the results were announced,
and as it had been predicted, Mr. Khatami won a landslide majority in this
election. As you all know, the majority of opposition groups, and the
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan among them, and most of the patriotic
personalities at home and in diaspora had asked the electorate to refrain
from going to the polls and boycotting the election.
The regime’s propaganda apparatus as ususal conducted excessive
self-praising around this election, and considered people’s participation
as “unparalleled” and a “sign of Islamic nation’s keen devotion to
divine just system”. Along
with them too, some political analysts assessed the results of this election
as a “referendum on reform”, something that those known as reformists
had claimed before. But, if we
analyse the issue realistically that the announced results of the eighth
presidential election proved many of the predictions of those who had
boycotted the election, for example:
-Despite the fact that the people who were eligible to vote had increased
by another 7 million in comparison to the last presidential election, the
turn-out according to regime’s statistics were 1 million less than the
previous presidential election. In
other words, 14 million people who were eligible to vote refrained from
going to the polls. This is
clearly an indication of a huge segment of Iranian populations’
disappointment with the election, and over all their disappointment in the
fact that their needs and demands are unfulfillable within Islamic Republic.
-As it was expected, Mr. Khatami emerged
victorious twice in a row in these elections, and apparently he has obtained
even a higher percentage of votes this time.
Regardless of the accuracy of the results and figures, there is no
doubt that this time Khatami was the favourite candidate for both sides of
the power structure, and he won the election as a result of both sides
combined votes. Unsurprisingly,
the system’s leader, (according to some information obtained before the
election) very threateningly forced Khatami to re-candidate himself for
presidency, as well as urged his supporters as much as he was capable to
vote for him. These are all
natural; up to now, no one has served to preserve the totality of the
system, and as well as portray a colourful image of the regime in
international stage better than Khatami.
-Something more important was these statistics that were predictable for most analysts before the election. Although the authorities had no choice but to announce the turnout less than the previous election, but in the day of election, the regime’s propaganda machinery pretended that the turnout had been unparrarelled in the history of the Islamic Republic. Aside from this, they had kept the polling stations fewer, so more voters would vote to cast their ballot; and three times, apparently some constituencies had run out of ballot. This left many people in the line-ups, so they extended the voting hours to pretend that the turn out had been unexpected. Who can believe that when among the 42 million eligible voters only 28 million bother to vote, not enough ballots would be printed or the polling stations would not receive enough ballots.
We, as part of our responsibility were observing the election process in many Kurdish cities, and in centre, and some major cities in other parts of Iran by our friends, sympathizers, and members. In most of the constituencies, the reality had been much different than what had been reported by the regime’s propaganda centres. But, apparently, Islamic Republic needs victory and public interest, but practically such a dream has not yet come true; therefore, they have to make a play out of such a victory by increasing the figures, media tricks and other avenues to deceive public opinion in Iran and in international stage.
In many Kurdish cities, the turnout was much lower than what was
officially reported. Without
considering the fact that those who support the regime comprised a small
segment of the voters who went to the polls, and the rest either because of
later consequences of legal inquiries, loss of subsidies, employment, and
admission into public services, the figures that were reported for Kurdistan
show that the number of people who voted comparing to the numbers eligible
has been one-third, even though the turn-out has been different from region
to region.
We, on our behalf salute the bravery and awaked ness of the people in
Kurdistan and other parts of the country, and present our appreciations that
once again they placed their trust in our Party, and also showed their high
level of political awareness. We
believe, as a few years after the regime’s referendum, the Kurdish people
and the political groups’ stance in regards to boycotting the referendum
remained effective, this time, it will be proven even sooner that true power
in Iran rests in the hands of “absolute juriscouncil” and fundamentals,
and the election of this and that will not change the essential question.
Of course, we hope that such predictions will not come true, and Mr.
Khatami and the so-called reformist camp will be better able to do much more
to solve the country’s economic, political, social, and cultural problems,
and more importantly to accommodate the rights and demands of the oppressed
minorities in Iran. But, it can
be expected that Khatami will show himself even less decisive and able in
the second term of his presidency, particularly, because this is his last
term in office, and he does not need to attract the electorate and the
public opinion.
11
June 2001
