The second round of voting between the two candidates of the Iranian regime to succeed Ebrahim Raisi began on Friday, July 5, in Iran. Reports on social media regarding the election process in several cities in various provinces indicate that the polling stations are quiet and there has not been widespread participation so far.
Many figures and activists, along with political and civil organizations and a large number of political prisoners, have called for a boycott, labeling what the Iranian regime calls elections as a “circus” or “show,” similar to the first round of voting.
According to the regime’s official IRNA news agency, Mohsen Eslami, the spokesperson for the election headquarters of the Ministry of Interior of the Iranian regime, said, “We will try to announce the final result in the early hours of Saturday.”
Meanwhile, videos posted on social media from cities such as Tehran, Kahnuj, Fuman, Ilam, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Bojnord, and Shahrekord indicate that eligible voters have not gone to the polls.
The second stage of the election began under circumstances where, according to even government statistics, a vast majority of Iranians did not participate in the first round of voting, which opponents referred to as a “circus” and a “show.”
According to the claims of the Iranian regime, only 40% of eligible voters participated in the first round of the elections, a figure that nearly all political figures consider to be false.
The statistics and figures from the Iranian regime’s official sources have always been seriously doubted and disputed by observers and independent sources. Many observers and civil and political activists believe that the number of voters in the first round of the elections was lower than what the Iranian regime claimed.
However, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Iranian regime, said on Friday, July 5, while voting: “I have heard that people’s enthusiasm and interest are greater than before. God willing, it is so.”
On Wednesday, July 3, he claimed regarding the 60% non-participation of eligible voters in the first round of the elections: “The idea that those who did not vote in the first round are against the system is a completely wrong perception.”
Before the first stage of the recent voting to succeed Ebrahim Raisi, Ali Khamenei had stated in another speech about the importance of public participation that “high participation” would bring “honor to the Iranian regime.”
In this context, despite the extensive campaigns by Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, two candidates approved by the Guardian Council of the Iranian regime, many social media users, along with the families of justice-seeking figures and activists, as well as political and civil organizations, announced that they would not participate in this round of government voting.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the largest opposition group in Iran, announced on June 28 during the first round of the presidential elections that more than 88% of eligible voters did not participate. The participants constituted 12% of those eligible to vote, numbering less than 7.4 million, marking the lowest participation rate in the history of the Iranian regime.
Opponents say there is “no difference” between the two candidates chosen by the Iranian regime to succeed Raisi, and participating in the government elections is considered a “vote for more killing and repression.”
The Iranian regime has even asked prisoners to vote. In Lahijan prison, prisoners on leave were informed that everyone must return to the prison to vote with their ID cards or national cards.
The prosecutor of Saravan County has threatened prisoners that if they do not participate in the second round of elections, their leave will be canceled.
