Middle East Focus: Khamenei Aide to Iranians: Forget about Open and Fair Elections………..

Arabia Deserta

Khamenei Aide to Iranians: Forget about Open and Fair Elections………..

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“The Supreme Leader’s representative to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has said that the United States and certain European countries are pursuing to use elections in Iran to overthrow the Islamic system. “The global arrogance (forces of imperialism)… has focused on elections in other countries, particularly elections in Iran,” Hojjatoleslam Ali Saeedi told a press conference on Monday…….. Saeedi added that certain Western countries are seeking to play out a scenario during the process of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iran, which will be held on March 2, 2012. In fact they want to pave the way for the registration of “the people, whose qualifications they know will not be approved so that they could use this opportunity… to create security challenges for elections. It is also possible that the enemy will use other methods, like (those it used in presidential) election of (13)88 (2009) to create challenges for elections,” he stated…… He also stated, “The Majlis should be in the hands of principlist and religious people.”…………”

What this cleric Saeedi is saying to the people of Iran is this: want open and free elections? Forget about it.
He is applying to opponents the same charges the Bahrain or Syrian or Saudi regimes use against their protesters. He accuses them of being tools of foreigners, in this case tools of the West rather than tools of Iran (as in the case of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia).

There apparently is a debate within the “reformist” groups in Iran about whether to bother and try to contest the coming elections. They already sense that it will be hard for them to gain a majority in parliament next year. The days when the reformists managed to control the parliament may be over, with the mullahs applying strict rules to keep out many of their candidates. The conservative clerics (there are liberal and moderate clerics also) want to make sure a conservative majority continues in the next parliament. Come to think of it, this sounds almost like the Republican Party in the United States, but without the checks.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com