Ahmadinejad's Audience is the Entire System

The conservative newspapers Kayhan, Resalat, Vatan-e-Emruz, and Javan, among others, did not pay attention to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's candidacy in their Thursday issues, often placing the news of his candidacy in their middle pages. These newspapers, which explicitly supported Ahmadinejad in the 2005 and 2009 elections, preferred to criticize the record of Hassan Rouhani's government on their front pages instead of covering Ahmadinejad's registration. Kayhan's front page featured the headline "A Question Left Unanswered: Was 100 Days Not Enough, What About 4 Years?" while Vatan-e-Emruz focused on the "Behind the Scenes of Production Bankruptcy" with a subheading questioning "Why 'No' to Rouhani?" targeting the 11th government. The Javan newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, accused Ahmadinejad's Minister of Information of being involved in the Telegram channels case, while Resalat reported that "the religious authorities denied the government's claims against Raisi." However, newspapers aligned with the reformists and Rouhani's government paid special attention to Ahmadinejad's registration. The Shahrvand newspaper headlined "The Last Wire," stating that "contrary to his previous statements, Ahmadinejad registered for the presidential election on Wednesday." Farshid Ghazanfarpour reported from the registration site that Ahmadinejad, accompanied by Hamid Bakai and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, first let Bakai complete his registration before he returned to the process himself, smiling at reporters and showing a victory sign as he filled out the registration form, managing the scene to be as surprising and controversial as possible. The Shahrvand newspaper reminded that on October 5, 2016, the Supreme Leader publicly expressed his disapproval of Ahmadinejad's potential candidacy in the 2017 elections, stating: "Considering the audience's situation and the country's circumstances, I advise a certain individual not to enter this topic, as it would create a polarization in the country, which is harmful. I do not consider it expedient for you to enter." Following these remarks, Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to Ali Khamenei, stating that "in accordance with the Leader's directives, I have no plans to participate in future electoral competitions," but on Wednesday, April 23, he officially registered as a candidate. The Shahrvand newspaper noted that two possibilities lie ahead: "First, both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bakai may be disqualified by the Guardian Council," and "the second possibility is that either Ahmadinejad or Bakai, or even both, may receive approval from the Guardian Council. In such a case, the election will certainly move beyond the binary competition between Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi and Hassan Rouhani." The newspaper stated that "the conservative faction is currently confused between the results of the lottery in the Jebhe-ye Paydari and the independent candidates' presence in the upcoming elections, taking shaky steps with worried eyes, and Ahmadinejad's presence can only add to the weight of a potential defeat," as Ahmadinejad's voter base is "among the same masses that are supposed to be cut off from Rouhani's government with economic incentives and unite with the conservative candidates," otherwise "the pure conservative vote in the elections of 1997, 2001, and 2013, which they lost, has never exceeded 6 or at most 8 million, and it is unlikely that this ideological faction's voter base has undergone serious changes in the past four years." The Arman newspaper also reported that "after Ahmadinejad's registration, his former companions, who used to respond to any criticism of him with the harshest words, distanced themselves from him." The newspaper highlighted the reactions of Ahmadinejad's former supporters, noting that Elias Nadarani described the former president's action as "the end of Ahmadinejad," while Mehdi Fazeli, former director of Fars News Agency, stated that Ahmadinejad, who claimed to shield the Leader from attacks during his first presidency, must be careful not to become a target himself. The report also reflected the reaction of Abdollah Ganji, the editor-in-chief of the Javan newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, who said: "Today was the day of introduction and farewell for Ahmadinejad. The limited cognitive growth of the faithful youth to the revolution who still shot from his trench has been completed. Today helped to empty the last trenches of these Hezbollah forces. It was also a farewell day; he is finished for many." Kayhan noted on its second page that "despite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declaration of compliance in a letter after the Leader's prohibition of his candidacy, he appeared at the Ministry of Interior yesterday with Bakai and Mashaei to register for the elections." The Shargh newspaper quoted Abbas Abdi as saying, "I think Mr. Ahmadinejad has hit the last wire and is acting suicidally, like ISIS members who strap bombs to themselves and explode. He destroyed the country for eight years and blurred the line between courage and ignorance." Mohsen Ghorviyan, a former student and current critic of Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, told Shargh that "Ahmadinejad's actions are a dangerous event and will further open the door to insurrections," and those who "claim insight and loyalty to the leadership and used to wear shrouds must now respond." The newspaper also quoted Saeed Leilaz, an economics professor and journalist, stating, "I am not surprised by this news; this decision was predictable. Ahmadinejad's audience is not the reformists and Rouhani but the entire system," and "he may become Iran's Boris Yeltsin. I mentioned this issue in 2006 and repeat it again that Ahmadinejad can do this." Ahmad Shirzad, a reformist political activist, also told Shargh that Ahmadinejad and his associates have made a "miscalculation" and "believe that if they enter the elections despite the Leader's explicit prohibition, they can gain popularity and votes; however, this is not the case." This former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also stated that Ahmadinejad "can no longer attract votes with beautiful slogans," and if he remains in the elections until the end, "he will certainly face a heavy defeat; the situation is no longer like before when an unknown person could suddenly jump into the field from a corner or behind the scenes," but in the meantime, "another event that will certainly occur is that we will have a tense election, and his insults will sour the atmosphere of the country." The Etemad newspaper, in a report about "scenarios for Ahmadinejad's candidacy," wrote: "One of the first scenarios that seems to arise from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's registration for the presidential election is his attempt to obtain approval for Hamid Bakai's candidacy," and "the second scenario is that Ahmadinejad's supporters have come to disrupt the conservative vote market." The newspaper identified another scenario as "structural breaking" and "Ahmadinejad's important plan for the future," stating that "his plans indicate that he does not want to be just a 'former president.'" Etemad also mentioned a fourth scenario as Ahmadinejad potentially withdrawing from the election in favor of another conservative candidate, without naming this candidate, stating: "Perhaps Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will support another option that registers for the election in obscurity and without controversy." The Vaghaye Ettefaghieh newspaper assessed Ahmadinejad's registration as stemming from "political audacity" and published various reactions to this action, stating: "The overall reaction to Ahmadinejad's registration from various political currents may indicate societal concerns about the emergence of sensitive conditions and the possibility of political tensions within, as well as the collapse of public hope for improving the country's social, political, and economic conditions." The Javan newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, published the unprecedented remarks of the judiciary spokesman against the Minister of Information, quoting Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei as saying that some detained managers of Telegram channels "face anti-security charges, and some also face charges of publishing obscene materials, and there are also issues raised regarding the Minister of Information." According to this newspaper, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also stated: "Mr. President, who has legal knowledge, knows that the competent authority to determine whether someone has committed a crime or not is not the Minister of Information." The Shargh newspaper evaluated Mohseni Ejei's remarks as "the judiciary spokesman's response to the President" and wrote that in the latest statements regarding the detention of Telegram admins, the judiciary spokesman said: "In this specific case, there are issues raised about the Minister of Information himself, which naturally he cannot comment on or prepare a report regarding this case." The newspaper reminded that Hassan Rouhani, in his press conference on Tuesday, criticized the detention of channel managers, stating: "I asked the Minister of Information for a report, and he said based on the information he had, they had not committed a crime. I reiterated that this situation should be followed up. Now the Minister of Interior, Justice, and Information are pursuing this matter to provide me with an accurate report. If the initial report that the Minister of Information gave me is correct, which I hope it is not, I will certainly inform the people." The Vaghaye Ettefaghieh newspaper in its Thursday issue has a report titled "The Taboo of a Female President" about "women's efforts to overcome the Guardian Council's approval barriers" and wrote: "It can be said with certainty that the most masculine political competition in the country is the presidential election." This newspaper pointed out that "in the 11 presidential elections held since the victory of the revolution, the only prominent woman who attempted to break the taboo of a female president was Azam Taleghani," stating that she "registered in 1997 as the first woman to enter this political competition, and although her documents were accepted for registration, she could not pass the approval barriers." According to Vaghaye Ettefaghieh, "some believe this disqualification was due to Azam Taleghani's gender," but Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Vice President for Women's and Family Affairs, announced on Wednesday that "we have never heard of anyone being disqualified because of being a woman." This newspaper emphasized that "after 1997, very few women dared to register for the presidential election, and of course, all were disqualified, and Ayatollah Taleghani's daughter also attempted to enter this competition for the second time in 2009 but was again disqualified." In this context, the negative reaction of conservatives to Ahmadinejad's registration for the presidential election is noted.