Iranian Elections: Role Model for Friends, Frustration for Foes

Date: 22 February 2020 - 22:58

News ID: ۷۶۴۴۷

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

As results emerge of the Majlis elections held last Friday for the 11th 4-year term of the parliament, including the names and background of candidates who have found their way into the upcoming legislature, as well as the huge nationwide turnout, Global Arrogance, especially the U.S., which spends billions of dollars to distort the image of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the world and to try to dissuade the Iranian people from lining up at the ballot boxes, once again feels frustrated.
It is obvious that the U.S., true to the prophetic words of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), "cannot do a damn thing”.
The current criminal in the White House, Donald Trump, is learning the hard way how helpless he is against the power and prestige of people’s power in Iran in spite of his policy of economic terrorism, plus his own unmanly terrorist act in ordering the assassination of the iconic general, Qassem Soleimani.
The list of Washington’s crimes against Iran and the Iranian people is long, and presents a pathetic picture of miserable failure.
For the past 41 years the U.S. has been trying in vain to change the dynamic Islamic system of government in Iran through a variety of blunted tools such as attempted coups, a failed invasion, an 8-year war through Saddam, support for the MKO hypocrites who murdered over 17,000 Iranian citizens, economic sanctions, unleashing the macabrely murderous takfiri terrorists in the neighbourhood only to see them wiped out, inciting traitors and vandals to indulge in sedition, violence, and blasphemy, and now the feverish propaganda through radio, TV, Internet and the print media, coupled with the ranting of American politicians and so-called analysts that parliamentary polls are a sham because some have been disqualified.
In the words of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the clique headed by Trump is made up of first-rate idiots who are ignorant of facts and realities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
First and foremost the elections in Iran, whether for the Presidency, the Parliament, the Municipal Council, and the Assembly of Experts – a body of qualified jurists that select the Leader and monitory his performance – are the most fair and transparent in the world.
Hence, the enthusiasm of the people in flocking to the ballot boxes to vote for the candidates of their choice with full confidence that the Council of Guardians, a venerable 12-member body of six Islamic jurisprudents and six experts in civil law, has cleared the qualified nominees and barred incompetent legislatures who had already failed to discharge their duties in the outgoing parliament as well as persons deemed ineligible to be the people’s representatives in the Majlis.
The eligibility of nominees is essential since on being elected as President, Legislator, Jurist of the Assembly of Expert, or members of the Urban and Rural Councils, they shoulder the highly important task of making decisions about the country’s policies and the welfare of the people, in addition to the vital sector of defence, foreign affairs, the right to possess modern technology, and efforts for peace in the neighbourhood that should be free of instability, outside interference, and terrorism.
Hence the administration of the country cannot be handed over to any person, without properly vetting him/her in terms of beliefs, loyalty to the nation, qualifications, past record, ethical behaviour, knowledge of affairs, and competence.
As a matter of fact, the Islamic Republic presents a brilliant example of unity in diversity as is evident by the respect shown to each other by different factions competing in the various elections, whether they win or lose, since the criterion in election is people’s preference for the most competent and most qualified candidate in their views.
This means the Islamic Republic of Iran does not have electoral rivalries like in the so-called democracies of the West or some third world self-styled democratic countries, where ethics do not exist and there is no cognition of God in politics as well as duties to the nation.
Thus, the experience of post-revolution era has shown that elections unify and empower the Iranian nation, irrespective of whether the frustrated foreign press calls them ‘reformists’, ‘hardliners’, ‘moderates’, or whatever it likes.
What is important for Iran is people’s welfare and the country’s progress into a strong and independent nation that is able to keep away the U.S. and all other intruding powers from the region.
This requires people’s enthusiastic participation, as was evident last Friday.
It is time the  enemies understood that in contrast to the huge turnout of the Iranian people for the polls, in the U.S. an average of over half of the citizens have never cast their votes in the presidential polls, while turnout in the election of members of U.S. Congress has ranged a little over 30 percent. This is while in Islamic Republic of Iran, during all the parliamentary elections held so far, the rate of people’s turnout has been 60 to 71 percent.