By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

Iranians of various strata of society and holding differing views on many issues, joined together yet again on Friday in a grand display of loyalty to the Islamic Republic by casting their precious votes for electing the new Chief Executive of the country.
The sheer number of voters who flocked to the ballot boxes all over the country from early 7 o’clock in the morning for Islamic Iran’s 13th presidential polls proved as false the usual politically motivated forecasts of the Zionist-controlled western media.
As we go to the press, with the timeline extended till midnight to facilitate the growing number of voters streaming towards the 72,000 polling stations all over the country in the cool hours of a summer evening, the percentage of the turnout is expected to be yet another slap on the face of Global Arrogance.
This means, every vote cast by an Iranian citizen is a nail hammered in the coffin of the enemies of the Islamic Republic who for the past four decades have been trying in vain to drive a wedge between the people and the dynamic system of popular religious rule, which is far superior to the defective model of western democracy.
As a matter of fact, May 18 could well be called a grand spectacle of unity in diversity and proof the maturity of the citizens of Iran, their self-confidence, and faith in a sound system that facilitates the vote of the virtuous, for the virtuous, and to build a virtuous society.
In other words, it was the day on which the masses, prevented for the past two years by the Coronavirus pandemic to rally on the streets in millions on such anniversaries as February 11 victory of the Islamic Revolution and the World Qods Day in support of the Palestinian people, converged on the ballot boxes from all directions.
Iranians, whatever their ethnicity, the language spoken, the creed followed, or the political leaning, got together to exercise their right of franchise in accordance with the constitution of the Islamic Republic that guarantees peace, stability, civil liberties, and the vast scope of national development in all fields (nuclear energy, aerospace, deterrent missile power, cyber technology, medical sciences, and the pharmaceutical field to manufacture antidotes for pandemics) in order to preserve Iran’s hard fought independence from centuries of repressive monarchic rule and the decades of subservience to the plundering West that followed.
Representatives of all leading international news networks have descended on Iran to cover the presidential elections, but not all of them are expected to relay facts and realities to their viewers/audience, because of the intense hatred of the West and the pro-western regimes towards Iran and the Iranian people.
This, however, has not misled the people of the region and beyond who regard Iran and its progress as models of emulation, as they struggle to free themselves from the yoke of the rootless and unrepresentative regimes, and, of course, the US.
The new president will be known to Iran and the world today or tomorrow as the vote-counting is complete, and hopefully, in his 4-year tenure he will succeed in salvaging the nation from the present economic impasse resulting from US terrorism.
One conspicuous absentee in the 13th presidential polls is Martyr Qassem Suleimani, whose spirit nonetheless continues to inspire the youth of Iran while keeping a close watch over the fruits of the Islamic Revolution.