Many Iranians express bitterness over = conservatives=92 victory

Lebanese = news

Many=20 Iranians express bitterness over conservatives=92=20 victory =
=91I think they=20 awarded some of my votes to other candidates. I am = very=20 discouraged=92

Borzou Daragahi

=93People should take care of their votes, and = if they see=20 any wrongdoing, they should report it.=94 = Ayatollah Ahmad=20 Jannati, head of the Council of Guardians, in the Feb. = 15,=20 2004 issue of Hamshahri.

TEHRAN: The = candidate was=20 dull, cautious and watery, and his grotesque campaign=20 extravaganza failed to draw any potential voters, = other than=20 his cousins.
But his campaign aid was nervous and=20 talkative. And, perhaps guilty for having taken part = in a=20 campaign he never believed in, he was anxious to give = me what=20 he says were the secrets of Iran=92s campaign 2004.=20
=93Everything you see here is a lie,=94 said = =93Morteza,=94 a wiry=20 34-year-old who asked that his real name not be used = for fear=20 of retribution. =93I will tell you the real story.=94=20
Conservatives took control of Iran=92s Parliament = this month=20 following a short, troubled political season during = which many=20 candidates were barred from running by the = conservative=20 Council of Guardians. Though a little over half of the = electorate officially turned out to vote, the list of = election=20 irregularities was considerable.
At some precincts = on=20 election day I personally witnessed people suddenly = lining up=20 at polls and pretending to vote when myself and other=20 reporters showed up.
=93I think they awarded some = of my=20 votes to other candidates,=94 said Homa Nasseri, an = independent=20 liberal who failed to win a seat.
=93Based on my = campaign=20 supporters=92 estimates, I thought I would receive = 15,000 to=20 20,000 votes. Instead I had 500 votes. I=92m very = discouraged.=20 Some grumbled to me that schools and mosques were = closed the=20 day after the election, which they say was an = unprecedented=20 move that allowed authorities to replace ballot = boxes.=94
In=20 the run-up to the elections the country=92s newspapers = reported=20 a stream of irregularities. Before it was shut down by = the=20 right-wing judiciary on the eve of elections, the = reformist=20 paper Yas-e-nou reported on Feb. 17 that the=20 conservative-controlled city council distributed $3 = million=20 worth of discount coupons to Tehran teachers four days = before=20 the elections in an attempt =93to persuade Tehran = citizens to=20 vote for their candidates.=94
The centrist,=20 government-controlled Iran reported on Feb. 16 that = 3,200=20 observers from the Council of Guardians the same = hard-line watchdog that barred thousands of candidates = from=20 running would be posted to guard Tehran=92s = ballotboxes in=20 an unprecedented move that worried other inspection = observers.=20
Various critics told me that many voters simply = cast=20 ballots according to directives by influential = conservative=20 groups with government ties like the Basiji militia, = which=20 answers to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose = son-in-law=92s=20 political group took over the Parliament.
=93The=20 right-wingers just declare that the Basijis have = recommended=20 these candidates,=94 said Mohammad Hossein Salavati, = an=20 independent candidate in Mashad. =93And the = right-wingers say,=20 =91It=92s our duty to vote for these candidates.=92 = There=92s no=20 thinking or research.=94
Meanwhile conservative = clerics,=20 many of whom owe their posts to Khamenei, used their = pulpits=20 to call on people to vote. A week before the vote = Ayatollah=20 Mohsen Mojtahed-Shabestari, Tabriz=92s prayer leader, = said=20 voting was a =93religious duty=94 while Ayatollah = Mohieddin Haeri=20 of Shiraz, went a step further, asking people to vote = for=20 those who believe in clerical rule.
Many pious = elderly=20 people, who had vowed not to vote, changed their minds = after=20 their favorite ayatollah announced it was a sin to = boycott the=20 polls.
During the campaign, candidates took ads = out in=20 newspapers, plastered walls with posters and gone out = onto the=20 streets to press the flesh with prospective voters, in = a burst=20 of campaign activity following a political crisis over = who=20 could run in elections.
But Morteza, the campaign = manager,=20 told me much of this, too, was all for show, funded by = the=20 same forces who sabotaged a reform movement begun by = the=20 election of President Mohammad Khatami in 1997. = Other=20 reporters throughout the country told me that many = addresses=20 for campaign headquarters led to empty offices devoid = of=20 activity.
=93It wasn=92t an election,=94 Morteza = said. =93It was a=20 selection.=94 The wedding salon that doubled as his = candidate=92s=20 campaign headquarters, Morteza says, cost $400 a = night, more=20 than two months=92 salary for most Iranians. But it = was loaned=20 to him by a powerful religious foundation that = answers=20 only to Khamenei. The head of the same religious = foundation=20 personally called the candidate, a manager of a = company owned=20 by the foundation, and asked him to run a liberal = campaign,=20 Morteza said.
=93In his heart, he didn=92t even = want to run,=94=20 Morteza said. =93He was forced to run by the = right-wingers.=20 Whether he wins or loses, he already knows he=92s = lost.=94=20
Other candidates include the employees of = companies run by=20 right-wing organizations and the young relatives of=20 hard-liners some of them boasting degrees from = England=20 and the =93University of Hawaii=94 in their ads. They, = too, he=20 said had also been pressed into running.
=93It=92s = the mafia,=94=20 Morteza said. =93You can=92t say =91no=92 to the = mafia.=94
A small=20 business owner, Morteza came up with a strategy to = lure young=20 people to his candidate=92s cause. He came up with a = catchy=20 political gimmick: a sign with the words =93political = arguments=94=20 scratched out.
To appeal to young voters attracted = more to=20 the aesthetics of the west than the Taleban-lite look = favored=20 by the clerical regime and its supporters, Morteza got = a bunch=20 of his relatives to shave their faces, wear neckties = and stand=20 oustide the salon. He hired women to wear nail polish = and=20 headscarves with their hair peaking out. He put up = signs=20 touting the candidates=92s name in English and = boasting a=20 website.
=93I wanted to appeal to young people,=94 = the=20 candidate himself told me.
On that particular = evening,=20 however, no young people showed up, heartening = Morteza. =93We=92ve=20 gotten too smart,=94 he added. =93We are tired of this = whole=20 game.=94

Borzou Daragahi is a Tehran-based journalist who = writes=20 regularly for The Daily Star =

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