Dozens of Iranian Activists Call for Boycott of Second Round of Presidential Elections

Dozens of civil and political activists both inside and outside of Iran have declared their intention to "boycott and shun" the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for next Friday, July 6. 55 civil and political activists, some of whom are currently imprisoned, stated in a declaration on Sunday, July 1, that the Iranian government has "no relation to democracy" and that after the "brutal massacre and suppression" of the protests in 2017, 2019, and 2022, "any form of political participation or voting for government-selected and powerless candidates is a bitter and dark joke." The signatories of this declaration further stated that the "deadlocks of Iran's life" can only be resolved by the departure of the Islamic Republic, asserting that "the act of non-participation and turning away from the regime's fabricated scenarios will position the people as a calculable force with powerful protest potential." With the presidential elections in Iran extending to a second round, Massoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, the two candidates who received the most votes in the previous election, will compete against each other. The announced results from the first round of the presidential elections indicated that none of the candidates managed to secure the required threshold of 50 percent plus one vote, leading to a second round to determine a replacement for Ebrahim Raisi. In their declaration on Sunday, the 55 civil and political activists stated, "In the next steps, to transition from this hellish situation towards a pluralistic democracy, we need dialogue and solidarity among the progressive, intellectual, and activist forces in the country." These activists also urged the "suffering and aware people of Iran" to boycott the elections to "create the conditions for the instability and downfall of this regime." Several political prisoners, including Narges Mohammadi, Pouran Nazemi, Gohar Eshghi, Shoaleh Pakrovan, Ghasem Sholehsadi, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, Abbas Vahidian Shahroudi, and Mohammad Nourizad, are among the signatories of this declaration. Previously, in addition to Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned human rights activist and Nobel laureate, and Gohar Eshghi, the mother of a victim seeking justice, other known figures and groups such as the Association of Families of Victims of the November 2019 Protests and the Mothers of Justice in Kurdistan had also called for a boycott of the elections. The elections that led to Ebrahim Raisi's victory were previously referred to as the least attended elections, but now a new record has been set for public indifference towards elections in the Islamic Republic. This comes despite Ali Khamenei's repeated emphasis on the importance of public participation. The significant decline in participation in this election cycle has become one of the hottest topics on Persian-language social media, with supporters of both the boycott and participation analyzing it from their perspectives.