Jew World Order

Press TV has interviewed Professor Paul Sheldon Foote with the California State University in Irvine about the highly organized and clearly democratic electoral system Iran is using in its parliamentary elections where voting is open to reflect the will of the people. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: This is the second round of the parliamentary elections taking place in Iran for its ninth parliament. Let me first get your reaction to the first round. We had you on Press TV back then and discussed it in detail… from then until now, how have you viewed the way things have taken place?

Foote: I’m amazed at the size of the turnout. I wish we had those kinds of turnouts for American congressional elections. I am also pleased to see the extensive use of the run off system.

Some of the Americans states use a run off a system; unfortunately many do not and when we do not have run off systems that means that people who are not very popular can win elections because there could be six or eight or ten people running in a district and if the person with the most votes wins they could have only 15 to 20 percent of the people actually supporting them.

I wish we would go to the time and expense in this country in most places to have run off elections, so I applaud this practice in Iran.

Press TV: You spoke of the significance of the run off vote specifically in the light of high voter turnout of around 67 percent in the first round of the elections in which we really did see people from different backgrounds and walks of life participating in Iran’s parliamentary elections.

Right now we just heard the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution speak about how the public should take the second round of voting just as seriously as the first. Could you elaborate a bit more on the significance of holding these run offs?

Foote: As I mentioned earlier we have a deep problem in much of this country in that we have people elected to office who have a very small percentage of their district who actually support them, which is outrageous.

We also have a terrible system for president (elections) in many states with the caucus system, which is totally outrageous and anti-democratic. Recently the leader of a Ron Paul was even arrested – the other side arranged to have him arrested.

And time and time again elections have been stolen by party leaders in the caucus system. Having popular elections instead of caucus and having run off elections is a far more democratic process than we see here in many American states.

Press TV: As our other guest Mr. Schoenman pointed out, the vote is taking place in a very specific environment. The West’s rhetoric against Iran has been quite rife throughout the months and weeks in the lead up to this vote; sanctions are still imposed on the country; and we are obviously looking forward to the P5+1 talks due to take place in Iraq.

Tell us a bit more about how a strong voter base, strong parliament, can make up for strong democracy within Iran and sort of affect its position globally as well.

Foote: It’s evident that people buy-in and this is not a communist country where you have 99 percent vote… and there is only one name on the ballot for example; this is not an Arab country – and I’ve worked in many of the Arab countries where you have majlis (parliament) members selected very informally. This is the result of widespread campaigns with advertisements, speaking engagements and it shows the will of the people.

Press TV: Mr. Schoenman has said that less than one percent of the population of the US are represented by the two major parties there and due to the electoral structure it against the mass of the population. He also mentioned that Iran’s population must be mobilized and involved in the election process and that it must be open to public debate to thwart the threat of imperialist takeover.

How would you respond to that?

Foote: I agree with much of what Ralph (Mr. Schoenman) has said even though I come from the opposite end of the political spectrum from Ralph. We in America have elections based on what are called wedge issues where prodigal leaders come up with some minor issues that get the public excited and they get distracted about the important issues.

By contrast, as Ralph pointed out, in an environment of sanctions and military threats we have millions of voters in Iran who are paying attention to the bread and butter issues of the economy and their security and taking positions that will maintain there principles at the same time without aggravating situations. So, I’m very pleased with these developments.

Press TV: How do you see this run off vote shaping the ninth parliament in Iran? There has been a lot of comments being made by others in the Western media specifically in the run up to the first round of the vote, but a minimal response as far as this (second) run off goes.

Foote: The attention I think is not there for the reason that the western media was caught lying in the 2009 (Iranian) election. Anyone can go to Eric Birrell’s website where he posted an article right after the 2009 elections clearly analyzing that election and demonstrating the fairness of the election contrary to the claims of the Western media to the contrary.

This time around they don’t have that as an option. The real issue is not the West, the real issue is going to be within Iran as to how many people feel represented by pragmatists, principlists or any other parties and feel that their vote meant something and that the system is flexible enough to include everyone.

SC/JR