Millions of ordinary Iranians, fed up with a flailing economy and the lack of social and political freedoms, are expected to stay at home when the country holds a presidential election on June 28.
A low turnout, which experts say is likely, would underscore the challenge to the legitimacy of Iran’s ruling clerical establishment amid rising anti-government sentiment.
Among those who will boycott the upcoming election is Mojgan Ilanlou, a documentary filmmaker and women’s rights activist based in Tehran.
The outspoken Ilanlou was arrested and jailed for her involvement in the monthslong nationwide antiestablishment protests that rocked the Islamic republic in 2022. She was later released under an amnesty.
Now, she says she will stay away from the polls as a form of peaceful civil protest against the authorities, who have cracked down on protesters with lethal force.
“I have no representative in this election to vote for…so maybe when they realize they need my vote and that I don’t easily sell my vote, something might change,” Ilanlou told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
Elections in the Islamic republic are tightly controlled with candidates being preselected by an unelected body dominated by hard-liners.
SEE ALSO: Iran's 'Highly Engineered' Race For Presidency Dominated By Hard-LinersThe six candidates cleared to run in the upcoming election are all men, most are hard-liners, and some have ties to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of Iran’s armed forces.
“Not only me but, I believe, a large group of people have reached the understanding that no change comes from the ballot box in Iran,” Ilanlou said.
She laughed off assertions that people boycotting the election were seeking to topple the clerical regime, arguing that the authorities “are ruling in such a way that they are taking care of it themselves.”
Women's Rights Not A Priority
Unprecedented antiestablishment protests erupted in Iran following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly wearing her mandatory hijab, or head scarf, improperly.
Ilanlou was among the first women to publicly ditch her hijab during the protests. Women, some of whom cut their hair and burned their head scarves in public, were at the forefront of the demonstrations.
SEE ALSO: 'This Revolution Is Still Alive': A Growing Number Of Iranian Women Defy The Hijab Law After Months Of ProtestsThe 53-year-old was detained by security forces and jailed for four months for posting pictures of herself on social media without the hijab.
During previous elections, Ilanlou said candidates would often talk about women’s rights and make pledges on the campaign trail that they could not keep. But that is not the case this year.
“This time around, the candidates don’t even talk about women at all…it is as though there is no such thing as women, women’s demands, or equality,” Ilanlou said. “They act like they don’t need women’s votes. They’ll see the consequence at the ballot box.”
She said that the lone reformist, Masud Pezeshkian, is the only candidate so far to broach the subject of the notorious morality police, which enforces the strict Islamic dress code. But, she added, Pezeshkian had not actually said anything to excite voters.
“He says he’s opposed to the morality police. So what? We’re opposed to it, too.” Ilanlou said. “Fix the crisis, if you can.”