Iran’s Presidential Election: Problematic but Important (original) (raw)

The Path to Iran’s 2013 Presidential Elections

With preparations for Iran’s 11th presidential election well under way, the Iranian political scene is preoccupied with the upcoming electoral conflict, a conflict that could write a new chapter of political practice in the country or entrench the hegemony of the ruling regime throughout the state’s centers of power and decision making. In this context, this article attempts to determine the most important factors that will influence the electoral process, including Ahmadinejad’s presidential experience; the challenges candidates will face during the elections; the risks embedded in Iranian politics; and the primary motivations of Iranian political blocs as they go to the polls.

THE PRACTICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN IRANIAN POLITICS

artcle, 2024

The Iranian presidential elections on June 28, 2024 feature six candidates approved by the Guardian Council out of 80 applicants, excluding many prominent figures. The ruling establishment appears to be focused on creating the illusion of a competitive atmosphere in a bid to overcome the unprecedented voter apathy witnessed in the 2021 elections in which the late President Ebrahim Raisi lacked any credible competitor. However, the introduction of a “reformist” among the “hardliner” contenders reopens the debate about the role of elections in the Iranian political system. This unique system blends traditional and modern values, rooted in Shiite Islamic and Western republican traditions. This has impacted and generated tension regarding power and political legitimacy in the system and the mechanisms for shaping its structure. Over the past four decades, Iran’s ruling establishment has consistently organized general elections to shape its governing institutions, including the presidency, Parliament and local councils. These elections have witnessed substantial popular participation, averaging around 60%, which is seen by the establishment as an indication of broad legitimacy. At first glance, considering the level of popular participation, which has declined in recent years, it may seem logical that these elections play a role in renewing the regime’s legitimacy. However, none of the past elections have fundamentally changed the regime’s policies or structure, as there has been no real transfer of power over 40 years. All government and presidential programs failed due to the overarching authority of the supreme leader and affiliated institutions, or “parallel institutions.” Stricter restrictions were imposed on the rise of certain factions to power, even when new political factions emerged with fresh perspectives on social and political issues. Ultimately, elections are revealed to be a mechanism for role exchange within the elite, with the regime holding firm to its own principles and perceptions, not allowing changes through the ballot box, and controlling who competes in the elections. One of the most prominent indications of the gap between the regime’s claim that the elections are evidence of its legitimacy and popularity and the stark reality is the broad social movement and mobilization that Iran has witnessed in recent years. This movement has directed extensive criticism at the regime as a whole, including its leaders, structure, ideas, ideology, and domestic and outside orientations. This paper aims to analyze the practical aspects of the elections within Iran’s idiosyncratic political system by examining several key elements: the role of democratic elections, the main structural factors influencing their effectiveness, the ways in which the Iranian regime utilizes elections along with its core objectives, and the impacts of limited electoral effectiveness on the country’s political landscape.

“The 2009 Presidential Elections and Iran’s Changing Political Landscape”

Iran’s June 2009 elections set into motion four processes that are central to the operations of the Islamic Republic regime. They include: the growing gap between large sections of Iranian society from the Islamic Republican state; the steady militarization of the political system; the unpre- cedented degree to which the Supreme Leader has become an active partisan in the increasingly bitter political infighting among regime insiders, and—most significantly—the violent disruption of an emerging set of ‘‘rules of the game,’’ that previously served as a safety check against excessive factional infighting. This last consequence of the election and its aftermath is likely to leave its most enduring imprint on the State. Specifically, the elections have taken Iran from manageable factionalism to the brink of complete political paralysis. As such, given the untenability of the State’s present predicament, far-reaching changes are almost certain to come.

Iran's Unexpected 2024 Presidential Election Series: Case Analysis

Case Analysis, 2024

On July 5, 2024, Iranians went to the ballot box to elect a new president following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19. With one exception, recent presidential elections in Iran have been full of surprises, and the 2024 elections did not disappoint. The one exception occurred in 2021, when the country’s hybrid authoritarian system reverted to its authoritarian impulse and ensured the election of Ebrahim Raisi, at the time the head of the judiciary and the establishment’s candidate. Following Raisi’s death, only three years into his tenure in office, Iranians originally went to the polls on June 28, 2024, to take part in the fourteenth presidential election of the Islamic Republic since the success of the 1978-1979 revolution. With none of the four candidates securing the necessary 50 percent of the votes, the elections went to a second round held a week later. In a contest that went to the wire and remained unpredictable to the very end, Masoud Pezeshkian emerged victorious with 53 percent of the votes. This essay examines the candidates running for the Islamic Republic’s second highest office, the issues they raised in their respective campaigns, and their efforts to attract voters. The essay starts with a summary of the significance of Raisi’s death for the Islamic Republic and the system’s efforts at crisis management, followed by a brief history of presidential elections in the Islamic Republic’s forty-five-year history. The essay ends with a discussion of the 2024 elections and offers a few thoughts on what might be expected from President Pezeshkian’s new administration.

The 11th Presidential Election in Iran

The political structure of Iran is a theocratic system based on Shia doctrine. The most powerful religious and political authority is a Shia religious authority known as the Supreme Leader. However, the head of government is a president elected through popular vote. So far eleven presidential elections have been held since the 1979 revolution. The eleventh presidential election was held on June 14, 2013. It was one of the most important presidential elections. It owed its importance to the previous controversial presidential election in 2009 which led to a wide popular uprising. More importantly, the eleventh presidential election was held amid tensions among different political streams within the political system. Based on primary and some secondary sources, this paper looks at the Iranian electoral laws, the candidates, their campaigns, voting, the election result and the wider significance of the eleventh presidential election. It specifically answers the following questions: what was the importance of the eleventh presidential election? What were the electoral laws, institutions and procedures for the presidential election in Iran? How was the presidential election conducted? What role do presidential elections play in the Iranians’ quest for democracy? This paper finds that although the election results received welcome by Iranians, there are significant flaws in the Iranian electoral system which casts doubt on the credibility of the elections being held in Iran. In particular, there were series of events during the eleventh presidential election which affected its natural outcome. Finally, this paper discovers that despite the conservatives’ paean, the presidential election was a major setback for them.