Closure of Seminary Classes for 'Jalili's Campaign'; Rouhani Warns Against the Rise of a Hardline Government

The second round of the 1403 presidential elections in Iran is set to take place in four days, with the first debate between Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist candidate, and Saeed Jalili, the principlist candidate, scheduled to air on Monday night, July 2nd. In the latest electoral developments, news websites in Iran have reported that the Education Department of the Qom Seminary has canceled classes for this week’s sixth summer course for seminary students. The department stated that the purpose of the cancellation is the 'necessity of the role of students and professors in the second round of the presidential elections and their presence in the field of jihad for explanation.' However, the 'Entekhab' website reported that the aim of this cancellation is to facilitate the presence of clerics in villages to campaign for Saeed Jalili. According to this website, Jalili's team has recently sent widespread text messages to clerics and seminary students inviting them to be dispatched to villages, mosques, and various regions of the country, and this team is 'heavily counting on sending missionaries to change the positive opinion of villagers towards Pezeshkian.' Some social media users have protested this action, considering it 'the instrumental use of seminaries and the network of clerics in villages' to promote the principlist candidate, stating: 'Neither Muharram nor Safar, nor Ramadan, why should the seminaries be closed!' Other users have commented that Saeed Jalili, who 'still thinks that clerics have influence even in villages, clearly has no understanding of the current situation in the country and lives in his own mental delusion.' Former President Hassan Rouhani has once again supported Masoud Pezeshkian in a statement for the second round of elections, warning that with the rise of Jalili's 'hardline government,' 'Iran will fall into the abyss of war, sanctions, and misery.' Rouhani, whose government was heavily criticized by four principlist candidates during the first round debates, specifically identified Jalili as someone who 'sees severing ties with the world as an opportunity and considers his art to be building walls around Iran.' He pointed out that 60% of eligible voters did not participate in the elections on July 8th, stating that this election 'had a clear and loud message for those who want to see and hear,' but he attributed the decline in participation in three elections from 1400 to today to those who, according to him, 'engineer elections without considering themselves accountable to the people.' Rouhani criticized the election boycott, stating that 'if the establishment were to hear the voice of the boycott, it would have heard it in the twelfth parliamentary elections,' and deemed non-participation a form of 'collective suicide' that would allow 'the most hardline faction of the establishment' to come to power. Without directly mentioning the role of the Supreme Leader and the institutions under his supervision, especially the Guardian Council and the Revolutionary Guards, in the widespread disqualification of candidates and insistence on repressive domestic policies and confrontational foreign policies, Rouhani said: 'Today we have two candidates, one who sees sanctions in foreign policy and economy as a blessing and the other who sees it as a catastrophe. One considers severing ties with the world as an opportunity and the other sees it as a loss of opportunities.' Rouhani referred to Jalili's supporters as the 'complex, worn-out faction' that, according to him, 'has strengthened the sanctions against Iran for years but has never faced sanctions themselves' and 'we have not heard anything from them except sermons and speeches at the table of 'negotiation for negotiation.' They want sanctions, but not for themselves, for us.' In conclusion, he emphasized that in the second round of elections on July 15th, it is not these individuals who will be subjected to a 'national referendum,' but 'the choice between two completely different orientations that will determine the direction of the country and Iran's position in the global community.' The newspaper 'Etemad' noted that the decline in principlist votes from the 1400 presidential elections to this year's elections has been 42%. According to 'Etemad,' this figure 'would be considered a political earthquake for any political faction; numbers that should be seen as indicative of the free fall of this faction's popularity among their social base.' The newspaper, close to reformists, attributed the decline in principlist votes to 'the failure to fulfill promises made' by Ebrahim Raisi's government and 'the heavy economic and social pressures' imposed on society during the three years of the thirteenth government. According to the report from the Ministry of Interior's election headquarters, in the first round of the presidential elections, 24 million and 535 thousand votes were cast, with Masoud Pezeshkian receiving 10 million and 415 thousand votes and Saeed Jalili receiving 9 million and 473 thousand votes. The participation rate in this election was about 39.9%, and the spoiled votes were reported to be 4.3%. Meanwhile, a new mural in Tehran's Vali Asr Square has been unveiled, stating: 'Which president, it definitely makes a difference...' This slogan refers to the principlists' intense efforts to elect their candidate to succeed Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 30th. This mural was installed on the second day of campaigning for the candidates who advanced to the second round, while Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, who withdrew from the election one day before voting, has urged his supporters to support Saeed Jalili in the second round. The responsibility for overseeing the city's billboards lies with the municipality. The struggle between the supporters of Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian has intensified on social media and in their affiliated media outlets in recent days. On Sunday, videos of Saeed Jalili's presence in the Tehran market were released, showing that some attendees were booing him. Sedigheh Vosoughi, an Islamic scholar who spent some time in prison for her comments, published an interview on her Instagram page ahead of the second round of the presidential elections, stating: 'Reforms from within, both theoretically and practically, are the least costly way, provided that it is possible.' Referring to the failures of figures like Amir Kabir, Mohammad Mossadegh, and Mohammad Khatami to implement reforms from within the government, she emphasized that 'trial and error also has a time limit, and if it takes too long, the investments will be lost.' According to Vosoughi, reforms within the Islamic Republic are possible when 'the forces within the government, such as the leadership and others, open the way for reforms considering the conditions of the nation and the demands of the people.'