Iran's election a cynical exercise in chicanery

Iran's "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khameini is old and sick (apparently suffering from cancer). But this has not stopped him from attempting to consolidate his ultraconservative theocratic legacy by ensuring the "election" of his pet presidential candidate, Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi takes over from the relatively reform-minded (but fettered and largely ineffectual) President Hassan Rouhani. Raisi has long been a Khameini groupie and, as long-time head of Iran's judiciary, has presided over violent crackdowns on anti-government protests which left thousands dead (Amnesty International has called for him to be tried for crimes against humanity, and he is already under US sanctions). He is widely touted as Khameini's likely successor as Supreme Leader.

But Khameini made sure that the hardline cleric Raisi was elected by disqualifying other presidential candidates from the election, leaving him as effectively the only game in town. Not surprisingly, then, voter turnout was an all-time low of 48% (less than 30% in more cosmopolitan Tehran), compared to around 73% in the last two elections. And even then a significant percentage submitted blank and void ballots in protest, enough to raise "Void" to second place behind Raisi.

So, this is most definitely not the voice of the people speaking. This is a fixed and fraudulent exercise in electoral cynicism that will leave Iran in the geo-political wilderness for some years to come.