The main subjects of Iran’s state-run outlets are the challenges created by invalid ballots and the boycott of the presidential election by the people.
In addition to these issues, they have dealt with some socio-economic crises. Outlets affiliated with the supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s faction famous as the principlists have tried to minimize the blow of this boycott and the reduction in the voter turnout which according to them was less than 49%.
Some, outlets like the Siasat-e-Rooz and the Vatan-e-Emrooz, have tried to minimize this blow to the regime’s government by highlighting the statistics of local elections in France and comparing it with the situation in Iran.
And other outlets are worried about the consequences of the election boycott and the rejection of the regime’s factions by the people.
“We are the owners of the invalid votes”, was the title of an article of the Mardom Salari daily published on June 22, 2021, who wrote: “The statistics of the 2021 elections showed that one should be more skeptical than usual to the passed way of the past years. The level of public dissatisfaction is high and social capital is declining. The powerless of the society will flaunt their power somehow, and this time they may do it more devastatingly.”
“Election and silent cries which must be heard”, is the title of an article in the state-run daily Hamdeli, which highlighted the people’s ignorance of Khamenei and other mullahs’ decrees about the necessity of participating in the election and wrote:
“Contrary to those who say that the turnout in Western countries is also low, it should be said that the turnout in Western countries is around 60 to 70%. In addition, in other countries, participating in elections is never considered a religious and objective duty, and leaving is not considered a great sin and prohibitions. This alarm should be heard, when domestic reference groups become ineffective, the influence of foreign groups and media becomes very strong.”
Then the state-run Shargh daily pointed to some of the social and economic crises and wrote: “It is sufficient to consider some of these social injuries; For example, in the economy, we see the stagflation caused by sanctions, unemployment, the devaluation of the national currency, the purchasing power of the people, gross class divisions, widespread poverty alongside rent-seeking groups; In addition, we must consider the behaviors dealt with the protesters in January 2017 and November 2019.”
The state-run daily Naghshe Eghtesad referring to the low number of voters on June 22, 2021, wrote: “In the context of the current crises, these statistics show that the government is facing a double crisis called the crisis of acceptance during the last two elections.
“Despite encouragement from the highest levels of the system (officials) and other political and party elites, we see that more than half of the entire Iranian society was reluctant to go to the polls. That is, most of the people of the country do not pay the slightest attention to the opinions and speeches of the country’s political elites.”
