Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) Young Iranians are not going to vote. An increasing number of them say that they are disillusioned, betrayed by a system interested in perpetuating itself at all costs.
Besides, the various committees charged with selecting candidates for the elections on March 14 have blocked the reformists in every way possible, and no great transformation of the political landscape seems likely. The opposition can't get a foothold, and it won't get one in parliament.
"What election?" one young student answers sarcastically, adding: "All the good candidates have been rejected. It won't change anything". One of his peers echoes these sentiments, saying: "We will go to vote only if the religious authorities force us".
They are young men and women in their twenties, most of them have studied in the West and are the children of prosperous families. They represent that part of the country that has had a taste of democracy and rights both at home and abroad, and it is difficult for the establishment to influence them through religious manipulation, which is used to sway the decisions of God-fearing believers, who are sometimes vulnerable and superstitious.
Gholam Abbas Tavassoli, a professor of sociology at the University of Tehran and a member of the Iran Freedom Movement, in an exclusive interview published by the online news agency Rooz, says that in Iran the elections are becoming "a ceremonial event" that has little to do with genuine voting. "Uniformity in the parliament will mean that there will be no opposition voices, so corruption in the government will not be checked. The basis of democracy is the presence of opposition groups, and those who have views that are different from those in power. If things continue as they have been, then in the future elections will merely be a ceremonial event, rather than real elections. In other words, elections will become merely a ceremonial event that people go to once every few years to vote, without really impacting the relationships of power".