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Election

I don't play games
But if you want to play politics, Rafsanjani is your man

 

Mirmohsen
June 20, 2005
iranian.com

Respectfully, I did NOT vote in the first round of the Iranian presidential election because I have tried all my life that, as much as my conscience lets me, not to participate in any type of process that in fact, is nothing more than a game. If I wanted to play, I would willingly go to a field, join some players and enjoy a round or two.

Days before the election I was madly bouncing my head and kicking my butt here and there as I read the pages of iranian.com, irna.com, isna.ir, bbc.co.uk/persian, baztab.com, peiknet.com, khabarnameh.gooya.com and so ....com. I wanted to read as much news as possible in order to disentangle the maze of Iranian politics.

Eventually I reached the point that all I could say was “f**k it all!” Then my eternal and painful love for Iran poked my belly and I decided to write and share my understanding of this infuriating political process.

I assume this election is a game because Khatami's eight-year term brought no result except prolonging IRI’s life. We gained the knowledge that the guys running the current Iranian regime have planned all this very carefully. I am not about to say “kaar kaare ingilisaast”; maybe it is but I won’t go there.

By introducing a handful of candidates they knew they were going to trade a clear-cut election for a confused, disengaged process that has amounted to nothing more than a loud show.

Master politicians, including Mahdavi Kani, Rafsanjani, Mesbah Yazdi, Jannati and the Larijani brothers, appealed to as many people from different factions as possible. As Khamenei said, “it doesn’t matter who wins -- the winner is the people of Iran.” In other words let's have a popular election, but not a popular president.

The regime needs to bring as many people to the polling stations as it can in order to prove the Islamic Republic’s well being. Therefore those people who boycotted the elections are on the right track. But at the same time the boycott supporters are idealists with no guts. At this time, idealist ideology is the last thing we need in politics.

So here we are, stuck with two candidates who were carefully planned to meet each other for the second round. Remember how Rafsanjani got marginalized after the reformists took the majority of seats in the parliamentary elections eight years ago? He learned a tough lesson; he needed careful planning and not to take things for granted. This time, he entered the elections with an uneager attitude. But behind the scenes he was making wide-ranging plans.

I don’t want to get into who is bad or good. There is no such distiction in politics. I’ve learned it the hard way. But all things considered, Rafsanjani is the one. He partially satisfies the left and the right, the Republicans and the Democrats. He is the one who wants to “transform hostility between the U.S. and Iran into opportunity.”

The point is that Rafsanjani planned all this and it has done wonders for him. He is a genius -- and we need one right now! He has the guts to change, to plan, to trick and to be a real politician and make small changes one at a time.

As Dr. Soroush said, “I wish Moin doesn’t get elected, because we need him to lead the reformist movement free of any pressure as the head of the executive branch.” Not that he lost in the first round, Moin will go on and do his reform, Rafsanjani will have the presidency, and the Basij and Sepah continue their pressures on society.

You and I may or may not vote in the second round the elections. But people! Please, please remember... it’s just a game. Don’t kill each other over it.

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