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Mehrdad Bayan

Iran's largest student organization, Sazman-e Danesh Amukhtegan-e Iran-e Eslami [also known ‎as Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat] has issued a statement ahead of the upcoming parliamentary ‎elections. Rooz has conducted an exclusive interview with the organization's spokesperson, ‎Abdollah Momeni. Below is the text of this interview. ‎

Rooz (R): Mr. Momeni, what captures our attention more than anything else in the statement ‎issued by Sazman-e Danesh-Amookhtegan is this phrase: "A Majlis whose representatives have ‎been selected beforehand has so little importance that political groups need not discuss whether ‎or not to participation in elections for it." What do you mean by this? ‎

Abdollah Momeni (AM): To answer this question, before anything else, we have to look at the ‎essence of these elections. Look, we are dealing with elections that you can hardly call ‎‎"elections." Just as the reformist coalition has officially announced, the results of most races ‎have already been determined. Using the [Guardian Council's] disqualification tool, the regime ‎has effectively engineered the elections in a way that people's participation or non-participation ‎does not have much effect on the outcome. Either way, in most precincts the regime's chosen ‎candidates will find their way into the Majlis. After all, elections have certain meaning and ‎characteristics. When there is no competition in two-thirds of the precincts, the results of most ‎races have been predetermined, and people's participation can produce no change in Majlis' ‎predetermined composition, then what elections are we talking about, and how can we take a ‎position regarding whether or not to participate in them? ‎

R: So will your organization participate in the elections or not? Are you boycotting the ‎elections? ‎

AM: Look, the discussion over whether to participate or boycott the elections finds meaning in a ‎particular context, where these options are available as tools for change. For instance, in the ‎ninth presidential election, this discussion was meaningful, because even though many ‎candidates were disqualified and the elections weren't fully democratic, a minimal level of ‎competition was maintained. Therefore, boycott meant something. However, the context of the ‎eight Majlis elections is very different. In this context, because of the absence of an effective ‎pressure mechanism and the meaninglessness of participation, boycott or participation are ‎meaningless. In other words, elections that are not really elections, and actually serve to ‎undermine the true essence of elections, are meaningless. Political groups that strive for ‎democracy and do not feel indebted or obliged to the regime cannot meaningfully discuss ‎whether they should participate or boycott the elections. ‎

R: Does that mean you will completely ignore the upcoming elections? ‎

AM: From the point of view of taking an official position with respect to participation or ‎boycott, yes. However, ignoring the elections does not imply that we have no opinions on this ‎issue. Elections are the building blocks of democracy. We are protesting the lack of freedom ‎and fairness in the elections and the trend of disqualifications, although I personally believe that ‎such protests are to no avail because of the regime's present structure. Furthermore, given that ‎very few reformist candidates have been qualified, and that the elections' administrators are ‎connected to the administration and the possibility of interference of military and paramilitary ‎forces, one has to doubt the integrity of the elections as well. What is so far evident is that those ‎who have hope in the election must doubt their integrity. ‎