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When would the arguing end?

Irandokht 

Suppose that those who voted against ahmadinejad did have a legitimate claim and the election was indeed rigged. Where could they take the "argument" and what can they do with it? Will there be a re-election of some sort? How can you be so sure that there is actually someone out there who would listen to your concerns as to the fact that the election results were rigged? How are you going to convince them of that fact and how wiill you make your case??

If AN is indeed elected., the damage is already done and people must put up with him another 4 years. Who cares whether the so-called oppostion will unite or not?

Q

The reality is that if the number of non-votes are high enough it will get the message. Otherwise, it won't.

And nobody has claimed the regime will outright fall by non-votes.

Parham,

I know many out-right dictatorships around the world with much worse records and much less participation for the people.

I don't know one of them that has even been phased based on people not "voting."

Don't forget that there was a boycott and many people did stay home last election. By iranian standards the 65% who showed up was very lowe. Even better example was the low turnout Iranian parliamentary elections before that one, where only about 20% of Tehranis reportedly voted. So how was the IRI establishment damaged in any way? What did this accomplish except to get Ahmadinejad elected as a world wide spokesman for Iran (if we agree with this or not, that's what he is).

The regime is arguably stronger and more legitimate now than at any time in its history.

It seems to me that "it just must might feel danger" is not really good enough of a reason to forego voting.

Masoud jan

After the s/election is over, the ones who voted against Ahmadinejad can argue that the elections were rigged and their votes were not counted.

If they don't vote, they have no say in it, they can't complain that the system is broken. 

That's reason enough for me to vote. I want to reserve the right to complain.

On the other hand, if you do want AN to win (to help unite the
opposition) then by actually voting for him, you can also do your part
in making a difference.

The reality is that they can only fake so many
votes, and if the total number of votes is high, the fake out portion
will be a smaller percentage and merely insignificant.

All that said, I believe voting is something that we have to decide according to our own affiliations or independent decision. We all can weigh the pros and cons and decide for ourselves, just like I couldn't convince my parents to go vote, they couldn't convince me not to.

IRANdokht

Ostaad

This regime has showed in the past that if you play ball with them, they'll just take advantage of it. Contrarily, if you don't and show it some force, it just might think it's in danger and only to consolidate its position, it might play ball with you. If the number of non-votes are high enough, it just might feel the danger. Otherwise, good luck trying to get it to play to your tune.

One reason to vote...

Although I agree with the general context of nine out of 10 descriptions of the Iranian regime the author presents, I completely disagree with his tenth "reason" to sit out the coming elections.

Let me say up front that I live in the US as a US citizen, and I'm not sure whether Mr. Habibinia lives in Iran or not. I think it is quite pretentious for me, or anyone who does not live in Iran, to tell the Iranians in Iran to vote or not. But for the sake of argument, I'd like to express my views on the subject of boycotting the elections.

As far as I'm concerned those who boycott elections for any reason server the interests of the incumbents. All over the world the incumbents want nothing more than having the voters, who don't belong to their core group(s) of supporters, to stay away from the polls and not vote.

Going back to my disagreement with the author on his last "reason", I argue that participating in the elections by no means "legitimizes" the regime just as boycotting will not "delegitimize" a regime like the one in Iran. The current Iranian cares as much about legitimacy as a whore cares about virginity.

For Ahmadinejad to achieve victory the fewer voters the better.

High voter turnout sends a strong signal to the regime the Iranian people take their civic duties seriously. As an American citizen I have used the "write-in" option many many times when I don't like, or don't agree with, the presented candidates in all kinds of elections ranging from the local school district, gubernatorial, congressional and presidential elections. I suggest those who are against the current regime/system, as I am, go to the polls and write-in anyone they want or drop "defaced" ballots in the ballot boxes. The regime must be shown that its restrictions will not discourage the Iranian people from expressing their views about the direction of their country's politics.

As I have said before, you snooze you lose. Let's learn from the political plight of the Iraqi Sunnis who boycotted those elections claiming they did not want to add "legitimacy" to the system set up by the occupiers. As the result they have had to spend years in the political purgatory. Even those people have openly admitted their political misjudgment.

Please don't be Ahmadinejad's best friend by boycotting the elections.

عالی

ممنون