Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Iran's reformists fret over flagging voter appeal
Voter turnout plunged as low as 12 percent in Tehran during local council elections in February. The mass abstention dealt reformists their first poll defeat since reformist President Mohammad Khatami scored a resounding 1997 presidential vote win.
And with the announcement this weekend that parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 20, reformists are worried that turnout will again be light.
''Has the same fervour people used to have (for elections) remained? Hasn't their fervour diminished? If it is so, we need to identify the problem and cure it,'' the official IRNA news agency quoted Khatami as saying in a speech in southern Iran on Tuesday.
Political analysts say a low turnout in February could see reformists lose the parliamentary majority they wrested from conservatives in 2000 when public enthusiasm for Khatami's message of gradual change remained high.
That, in turn, would further weaken Khatami whose inability to overcome resistance from powerful conservatives to his agenda of improved democracy, justice and civil rights has been a major factor in dwindling public support for reformists.
''It's not just that people have become apathetic. They have taken a decision not to participate in elections because they want to register their disillusionment with the status quo,'' said one local analyst, who asked not to be named.
Reformist politicians acknowledge there has been little change in public sentiment since the February council elections.
''The attitude towards non-participation (in elections) prevails,'' parliamentarian Ali Shakourirad told Reuters.
Leading conservatives, such as former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, have also expressed growing concern that Iranians have lost their enthusiasm for politics.
But conservative commentator Amir Mohebian, a member of the editorial board of the hardline Resalat newspaper, said Iranians would flock to the polls to send a message to Washington which accuses Iran of building nuclear arms and sponsoring terrorism.
''The heightened U.S. pressure on Iran, contrary to some predictions, I believe will increase people's participation, because people think a low turnout would encourage America to continue its pressure and even attack the country,'' he said.
Impression: Just a thought, but it strikes me that the internal problem of articles like this is that the Western press can't stop using its own labels, like calling Khatami a "reformer," long after the Iranian people have figured out that the label should never have applied to him. They're not interested in turning out to the polls for the same reason that voter apathy happens here (but on an order of magnititude in difference, of course) - because there are no real choices.
