Iranian Republic

Low election turnout points to larger changes in Iranian politics

Iran’s presidential election on June 18 is expected to have the lowest turnout of any election to date and the implications are likely to extend far beyond the ballot box. The official voter turnout in post-revolutionary Iranian presidential elections is typically around 50-85%, which is relatively higher than for parliamentary elections. Of course, the official statistics are quite different from the real ones, especially for the elections between 1981 and 1993, but the official data cannot hide the general trends in the electorate’s behavior. The last parliamentary election in 2020 showed a drastic decline in total turnout in 30 out of 31 provinces. According to official numbers from the Ministry of the Interior, turnout was just 42.57%, the lowest of any election in the Islamic Republic’s history. Driving that historic decline was a growing sense among different segments of society that elections do nothing to improve their lives or address the country’s major problems, like strengthening the economy, ending political deadlock and cultural isolation, and empowering civil society to combat corruption and inequality. The bloody suppression of the November 2019 protests and the lack of accountability for the shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 deeply affected many Iranians and their willingness to turn out to vote.

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Chronicle of a Flawed Accord Foretold?

Ali Afshari is an Iranian political analyst and pro-democracy activist. He is a former student leader and member of the Central Committee of the Office for Consolidating Unity, which was the main and largest student organization in Iranian universities during the Reformist era. He received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in systems engineering, working as adjunct faculty member, and contributes regularly on current Iranian political events in Persian- and English-language media outlets. Diwan interviewed him in mid-June to ask him about the ongoing negotiations to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, and the impact this may have on the broader Middle East.

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Iran: Ukraine Airline Victims’ Families Harassed, Abused

Iranian authorities have engaged in a campaign of harassment and abuse against families of people killed in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, Human Right Watch said today. On April 6, 2021, Iranian authorities announced that they had indicted 10 people for their role in the incident but have not provided any public information about their identities, ranks, or the charges against them. Governments participating in the Flight 752 investigation should support family members of victims in pursuing a path for justice and accountability.

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“Unbearable”: Reza Khandan, Husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, on the Ground in Iran’s Qarchak Prison

“The purpose of holding women prisoners in such a place is to pressure and psychologically abuse them and their families.”

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A letter from Prison Arash Sadeghi writes to Mr. Javaid Rehman

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A U.N. farce has tragic implications for feminist activists in Iran

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Time to Abandon Haji Firouz's Blackface-Nazila Fathi

Nowruz is approaching and Haji Firouz, the legendary character who spreads joy before the Persian new year, will once again hit the streets. There is one problem: his blackface.

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The Running To Take The Reins In Iran? - Golnaz Esfandiari

Iran will hold a presidential election in less than three months amid speculation that a hard-liner and a "military man" could succeed Hassan Rohani, who is serving his final term and is under heavy pressure from his hard-line opponents who have consolidated power in the Islamic republic.

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IN LETTER TO THE UN, IMPRISONED IRANIAN WRITER NASRIN SOTOUDEH PROTESTS EXECUTIONS

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a distinguished human rights lawyer, writer, and PEN America’s 2011 Freedom to Write honoree, is currently jailed in Iran’s Qarchak prison. In late 2020, she undertook a grueling 46-day hunger strike to protest the conditions facing political prisoners, including a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19. She was returned to Qarchak against the advice of medical professionals after a brief furlough in December, and continues to advocate for prisoners’ basic human rights.

Labor Activists, the Living Wage and State Law in Iran

On April 8, 2020, representatives of Iran’s government, business and labor sectors resumed long overdue negotiations to revise the national minimum wage. With an economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and crippling sanctions imposed by the United States, prospects for government and business representatives to consent to a substantial wage increase were slim.

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