Every opposition party boycotted the election, the first since President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election in 2009, when accusations of fraud plunged
the Islamic Republic into the worst unrest of its 33-year history.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the elections had taken place in a
“climate of fear”.
“It has been clear for some time that these elections would not be free and
fair. The regime has presented the vote as a test of loyalty, rather than an
opportunity for people freely to choose their own representatives,” he said.
Yesterday’s contest boiled down to a struggle between loyalists of the
ayatollah and Mr Ahmadinejad, who have fallen out over the past two years.
The president, despite being seen as a reactionary and an anti-Semite in the
West, is accused of trying to undermine the clergy’s central role in Iran’s
complex hierarchy.
Mr Ahmadinejad and his supporters have been dubbed the “deviant current”
by the Supreme Leader and his allies.
Powerful establishment groups, including senior clerics, the elite
Revolutionary Guards and market traders, formed an alliance to back
candidates loyal to Khamenei, who wants to be sure that a candidate of his
choosing wins the next presidential election in 2013, when Mr Ahmadinejad
will have to stand down.
Views: 0