Reformist President Muhammad Khatami has urged Iranians to turn out and vote in parliamentary elections this week to prevent hardliners from winning.
| "Please vote. If you don't, they're gonna kill me!" |
"What has happened has satisfied some and angered many others, but this anger should not push people not to take part in the elections," the embattled president said on Monday in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA. "Many people have the feeling that in many constituencies, they cannot vote for their preferred candidate. But with a little tolerance, they can search to find those candidates who are closest to their views," Khatami wrote. "Even if they cannot send the person they want to the Majlis, they can prevent those they do not want from entering," he added.
| "Though, actually, they'll just go anyway. I mean, Rafsanjani lost the election before, so the mullahs put him in charge anyway. It'll prob'ly happen this time, too." |
In a clear reference to religious hardliners, he warned that "non-participation in elections would allow a minority to take control of the destiny of the country."
| "They've already got it, of course. But they won't be hiding it anymore, not even as little as they have been." |
"Nobody can force our people from adhering to a point of view they do not believe in, but at the same time one cannot not participate in the elections ... even if the people, the candidates and the deputies have been mistreated." He called on voters to "choose the best possible candidate", but admitted he was "writing with a heavy heart".
| "It's kinda like a coup, only they haven't shot us. Yet." |
"We must fight with all our strength to defend religious democracy," said the president. Iran's conservatives are expected to oust reformists from the parliament after a hardline political watchdog, the Guardians Council, disqualified some 2300 candidates from even standing. Most on the blacklist are reformists. The reformist camp behind Khatami is now in disarray, with the main party led by the president's brother boycotting the polls and the remaining moderate groups only able to contest around 200 of the 290 seats up for grabs on Friday. |