Hamid Taqvaee
June 22, 2005

The Islamic Republic of Iran eventually dragged itself to a second round in its election puppet show. Although the show is yet to be over, irrespective of the outcome, one thing is certain: the regime will come out of this farce even more crisis-ridden and desperate than before. The election is but one battlefield between the people and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The people have, up to here, the upper hand. On Friday, the second round will be over but the regime's crisis and the people's revolutionary movement against it will not be. It is appropriate, therefore, to review the political aims and content of this so-called election, the status of the regime and its different factions and the pro-regime opposition in this second round as well as the people's opposition movement.

The first question is the political content of the election. Is it really over the election of a president? Are this conflict and the confusion within the regime's ranks on the one hand and people's opposition on the other over who is to become the next president of Iran? Clearly this is not the case. In fact, the issue is over the very survival of the regime itself. This election is taking place within a deep crisis that has not begun with the election nor will it end with it looming in the background. It has been a long time now that a significant revolutionary movement against the Islamic regime has been in the making and is gaining momentum on a daily basis. In this context, the presidential 'election' is only another battlefield in this fundamental confrontation. The regime aims to gain credibility and legitimacy for itself whilst the people aim to do the opposite. The aim of the regime is its survival so the very act of participating in the election is crucial for the regime. Khamenei has said this repeatedly especially in bringing round candidates who are taking this game a little too seriously. The regime's survival is the task of all its officials and cronies - from the most extreme 'reformist' to the supreme leader himself.

From people's perspective, however, this election is an opportunity to express their opposition. When we said that this election was a farce and called on the people to protest against it, we only stated the real desires of the vast majority of the population. Why does this election lack any credibility? For a thousand and one reasons - the last one being the incredible election rigging that took place in the first round. If a hundredth of this had happened in a western country, the results would have been annulled and those in charge of the election prosecuted. But the Islamic Republic of Iran has its own Islamic standards and laws from the Middle Ages. It increases the numbers of votes cast by several-fold and in an hour alone, adds 1 million votes to one faction's candidate of choice. It is so blatant that other candidates, who are aware of the process and have even benefited from this type of fraud in the past, cannot remain silent about it. But the game continues nonetheless, that is, on to another round of electoral fraud.

This election is a big lie and an insult to the intelligence of the people of Iran. They have very right to stand up against it. But electoral fraud is not the only or the most important reason for the people's protest and opposition. Even if there was no fraud, this election would still be a lie. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocracy; for this very reason, because of its characteristics, it is contrary to any form of democracy even in the most limited sense of the word.

In a system where freedom of speech, press, organisation, and association have no external existence and opposition forces are either in prison, tortured, executed or exiled, an election cannot have any meaning. A system where the constitution officially says women and non-Shias are excluded and even then the Shia man who runs must show loyalty to the supreme spiritual leader and pass the filter of the Guardian Council to be eligible can in no way be described as an election. This is not even a selection. There is discrimination and inequality in filling the post of the president even amongst government officials and cronies. Basically, every few years, officials gather round, and pull out a person from the hat based on behind the scene agreements, the existing balance of power amongst the factions and their ability to conspire and commit ballot rigging. And they then call this an election! Those who name this an election either lack political intelligence or think people are stupid.

In any case, this prank has come to a second round. They could not reach an agreement amongst themselves on who to pull out from the hat, and there was even conflict within each faction on their candidate of choice. This is the direct consequence of the revolutionary movement against the regime, and specifically against the puppet show. This opposition began with the protest of workers on May Day in Freedom Stadium against Rafsanjani* and continued against the election with the tearing down of election posters, protest speeches and meetings against the candidates in various cities, the women's protest and gathering, the protests a day before the election and the sparse numbers seen at the polling stations. In response to this, especially when the bomb explosions in several cities orchestrated by the government to intimidate the population failed to do so, the regime was forced to take itself to another round via ballot rigging. The emergence of Rafsanjani at this stage is evidence of the factions having reached a dead-end. Rafsanjani is both a conservative and a reformer! He is the harbinger of compromise and the architect of assassinations and killings in Iran. He has had more than a hand in the murder of the opposition and has been found guilty in a Berlin court for the assassination of the opposition in the Mykonos trial and his track record of 'reform' also goes way back! He is all for repression and assassination and also for buying time for the regime via 'reformist' deceptions. It is for this very reason that he represents the chaos amongst the ranks of the regime. He is the president of all factions, whilst being the candidate of none! Rafsanjani has been pushed to the fore with both factions supporting him or in reality condescending to support him because they have no factional solution to the crisis themselves. They have no choice but to accept Rafsanjani as neither faction will accept a president from the other. Rafsanjani represents the despair of the regime and the chaos within its ranks. At its most fundamental, it is the right faction's inability to repress and remain. Even if it pulls off a coup d'etat, or some other desperate act, it could not sustain itself vis-à-vis the backlash that such actions and military rule would shape in society. This reality has already been articulated by the commander of the security forces in Tehran who was unable to do anything after being booed by youth during Ashura when youth blasted rock music and danced on the streets during a Shia month of mourning. In a letter to Khamenei, the commander warned that if the demonstration and protest in Tehran carried on for more than 6 hours, the capital would explode. This was his way of giving warning and removing responsibility from himself.

The shaping of the 2nd Khordad or so-called 'reformist' faction was itself a consequence of the inability to suppress and manage the situation. Today this issue of inability to control the situation has resurfaced with more intensity at a time when 'reformers' have completely lost their market value. It is under such circumstances that both factions concede to Rafsanjani. A segment of the right still supports Ahmadi-nejad - but they are the unrealistic segment that still has illusions of the regime's power to confront the revolutionary movement and repress it. More realistic ayatollahs know that the Pasdaran, Baseej and Hezbollah herds are not the answer to this situation. And the so-called reformists, whose candidates weren't even allowed in the second round, are hiding under Rafsanjani's robes vis-à-vis Ahmadi-nejad. In this way, the two factions that have reached the end of the road try to give the task of maintaining the regime to a person that is a trans-factional personality - both an amalgamation of deception and repression.

Their justification for supporting Rafsanjani is very revealing. They say one must choose bad over worse. They say to prevent fascism, one must vote for Rafsanjani just as people in France voted for Chirac over Le Pen. It is an interesting comparison; let us for a moment play with this scenario to its end. It would have been comparable if Chirac and Le Pen had reached a second round of election after the filter of the Guardian Council and election rigging and more importantly if the leader, Islamic assembly, judiciary and repressive forces were in the hands of Le Pen's supporters with or without Chirac, then this comparison might have had some meaning. But if it were the case in France, we would not be faced with a vote for the bad Chirac versus the worse Le Pen but with a second French revolution.

In Iran, the reformists' call to support Rafsanjani is not to prevent fascism but to prevent the revolution from becoming a reality. As I mentioned earlier, the real reason for this election is to assist in the system's survival; our 'reformers' have lined up behind Rafsanjani to do exactly that - to buy credibility for the system and drag the people to the ballot box. The reality is that the entire government is fascist - the leader, Islamic assembly, judiciary and the direct supporters of Ahmadi-nejad are fascists as is Rafsanjani, who is supposedly to save us from fascism. Anyone who invites people to vote under any justification or pretext is actually buying legitimacy and credibility for this system. They are giving the future president of Iran - each of whom is nothing but a murderer - the opportunity to suppress and repress and are giving people's votes as their power of attorney to do so. If anyone is truly concerned about fascism, they must stand up to this regime and its election farce and resist it. A struggle against fascism in Iran is dependant on the people and on the ability to discredit this farce of an election and shame the regime; it is certainly not dependant on backing one fascist over another! There is truly no limit to the audacity of our 'reformers'. Their candidates have been eliminated with fraud and the so-called guards of the indigenous Voltaire can only reach the conclusion that a bad fascist must become president over a worse one rather than proclaiming the election invalid.

It is ridiculous I know, but not because of their political idiocy and dimwittedness. To the contrary, these political clowns know full well what they are doing. Their task is to maintain the entire system and their support of Rafsanjani serves this purpose. The transfer of support from Moin to Rafsanjani is a clear and obvious example of the truth that the issue is not over the election of a specific person to the presidency but the survival of the regime vis-à-vis the people.

What will neutralise their efforts even further is the greater advancement of people's opposition against the election and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the period following the election. Until now, the people have stamped their mark on this election by their open protest. All this chaos in the ranks of the government and its factions are the direct result of the people's revolutionary movement against the regime and particularly against the farce of an election. Rafsanjani - now the hero candidate of the regime - received what he deserved by workers on May 1 and this was a prelude to the more widespread protest of various segments of the population against the election. The protest on 1 May was at the same time representative of the characteristic and essence of the confrontation between the people and the regime. This protest must continue, become even more widespread and bring the people's gains during this period to a fruitful conclusion.

We mustn't allow the regime to even superficially claim that it has endorsement by the people's votes. We will do our utmost too but even now, one thing is certain. Whatever happens and whatever the result of the election, this regime and its president will have no credibility amongst the people of Iran. On May 1, the working class, representing the vast majority of the people, declared as much.

*The whole stadium was hired with lot of fanfare for Rafsanjani to speak to workers on the occasion of May 1; the rally was boycotted by everyone and just a handful of cronies attended. It was such a flop that Rafsanjani did not dare to show his face!

Translators: Maryam Namazie and Fariborz Pooya. Hamid Taqvaee is the leader of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. This article was written on June 22 in Persian.