Presidential Elections Iran 2013
On the 14th of June 2013, Iranian citizens are going to vote for a new president. For the past 8 years, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has served two terms in presidency. His re-election in 2009 was very much disputed and led to the greatest popular protests in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. Thousands of Iranians took to the streets to ask “Where’s my Vote”, and their protests have become known as the Green Movement.
Although large in size, the Green Movement failed to achieve any concrete political results, and Ahmadinejad was sworn in for another term. His second term of presidency has only resulted in increased international sanctions and an even larger isolation of Iran from the rest of world and.
In order to avoid another outburst of protests during the elections in June 2013, the Iranian government has taken various measures to suppress oppositional voices. Measures include the banning of reformist candidates, changes in the legal election procedures and suppression of media organizations and journalists.
Although Iran tries to uphold the image that elections in the country are plural, the intricate power structure within the government is much less transparent. Actual power within the republic lies much more with Iran’s non-elected supreme leader Khamenei instead of with the president, and all presidential candidates also have to be approved by Iran’s Guardians Council, who assess candidates not only on the basis of their educational record and political experience, but also on their devotion to Shi’ite Islam and their adherence to principles of Iran’s Islamic republic.
Radio Zamaneh pays dedicated attention to the 2013 presidential elections, by providing updated news and in-depth analyses of the elections and its candidates in a wider context of Iran’s political system and power structure:
Websites
The latest English-language articles about the presidential elections by Zamaneh’s editorial team can be found on the homepage http://archive.radiozamaneh.com/english/
Also Radio Zamaneh’s Persian website follows the news and developments around the elections on a daily basis, at the new website www.radiozamaneh.com
Tribune is Zamaneh’s Persian-language platform for debate and citizen reporting. In its “hot topic” section on the elections, you can join the discussion and share your point of view through uploading blogs, photo’s, video’s or podcasts. www.tribunezamaneh.com
Social media
Interesting articles and important updates on the elections are also shared through Radio Zamaneh’s English Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RadioZamanehEnglish and Twitter https://twitter.com/ZamanehRadio
ManGozin online voting quiz
Radio Zamaneh has recently launched ManGozin, an online voting tool that makes Iranian citizens conscious of what voting in a real democracy would look like and what kind of choices are important. The voting quiz is in Persian and contains 30 hypothetical questions on various social issues such as infrastructure, health, politics, education, and foreign policy. Participants’ answers are calculated at the end of the quiz and place each person on a matrix from far right to far left, indicating their personal political standpoint. ManGozin will help Iranians to formulate their political values and opinions if free elections would be held.
To take the ManGozin voting quiz (in Persian), go to www.mangozin.com
Election night 14th of June, Amsterdam
On the 14th of June, Radio Zamaneh hosts a special debate-night on the presidential elections in De Balie in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Iranian political context and its effects in the international arena will be discussed by various Dutch and international experts, journalists and politicians, such as political analyst Mehdi Khalaji, Hossein Ghazian (Iranian public opinion expert), sociologist Shervin Nekuee en Marietje Schaake (member European Parliament). The election night is organized in cooperation with newspaper Het Parool and HIVOS and will be mainly held in Dutch.
For more information and tickets click here
More resources
The website of Nabz-e Iran hosts a special “election centre” in English. Here you can find a detailed overview of all presidential candidates, census data maps and a toolkit containing a wealth of guides, legal documents analyses and an online course on citizen monitoring about the elections: https://www.nabz-iran.com/en/election-center/home-english
