The bizarre case of 'blank votes' in Iran's elections
In the face of an embarrassing record number of invalid votes cast in the latest elections, Iran's leadership continues to either look the other way or scramble for a justification.
The June 18 vote in Iran was more than unique in many ways when compared to previous polls held after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It told the tale deep from inside Iran's politics and the widening state-nation gaps, perhaps more vividly than ever before.
Weeks ahead of the elections, apathy was already floating in the air. Accumulated economic and political grievances of a disgruntled Iranian society had left it few, if any, hopes to cling to in the ballot box.
And add to that a purge of centrist figures, who could have mobilized at least some sections of the so-called grey or undecided electorate. Yet the ruling establishment chose to keep those voters out of the game. The unelected supervisory body, the Guardian Council, dominated by ultraconservative clerics handpicked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acted with no mercy, even toward longtime loyalists. The policy was all but a sign of a shrinking inner circle that has been kicking out the "others." It was an attempt by the hard-liners to homogenize a tribe of their own.
Against such a backdrop, allegations of fixing became the election's dominant debate. The state was seen as more than determined to guarantee a landslide for its own candidate well in advance. Ebrahim Raisi, the supreme leader's blue-eyed boy, was ultimately left competing almost with himself or, at best, with three uncharismatic candidates. The results were, thus, everything but a surprise. Raisi grabbed 62% of the votes, as Iran marked its lowest ever turnout in a presidential election.
