Hundreds of Educators Announce They Will Not Participate in Presidential Elections

520 educators in Iran have issued a statement declaring that they will not participate in the upcoming presidential elections "to defend the republic and based on citizens' rights." On Saturday, June 22, hundreds of educators announced their decision in a statement published on the Telegram channel of Kalameh, stating that although they cannot establish an "opposition campaign against participating in the elections," they will share their "reasons for non-participation" with the public. The signatories emphasized that participating in the elections "means accepting and endorsing the imposed current situation and insulting the social consciousness of the people." They noted that the results and actions of governments in the Islamic Republic are "the same for the people." The statement referenced the remarks of Masoud Pezeshkian, the only candidate from whom "change is expected," who stated, "I have no program" and will implement "the same program as the previous government" and the "general policies of the system and the implementation of the directives" of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. The statement also mentioned that Mr. Pezeshkian, as the candidate favored by reformists, not only failed to mention the killing of people in the streets in his first letter of Mehr 1401 and his interviews regarding the death of Mahsa Amini but also remained indifferent to the "expulsion of protesting workers, teachers, professors, and students." The educators of Iran stated that the "experience of the Khatami and Rouhani administrations" has shown that "the legal and real structure of power does not allow for any remedy" and declared: "Participation in the elections ignores all the costs that have been imposed on the people over the years." Mahsa (Zhina) Amini was a young woman who was killed in September 2022 while in the custody of the Islamic Republic's morality police, leading to the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests that faced widespread repression from the security and judicial institutions of the Islamic Republic. Narges Mohammadi stated: "I will not participate in the illegal elections of the oppressive and illegitimate government." The educators' public opposition to the elections comes at a time when Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, has emphasized the need for "increased participation and a grand holding" of elections before the presidential elections and prior to previous parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections. On Saturday, June 22, he again ignored the issue of disqualifications and the public's reluctance to participate in elections, only imposing new restrictions on candidates. Previously, figures such as Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Sedigheh Vossoughi, an Islamic scholar, political activists like Hossein Razaq and Mehdi Mahmoudian, and Mojgan Ilanloo, a filmmaker and former political prisoner, have announced that they will not participate in the presidential elections on July 8. The six candidates for this election are Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Masoud Pezeshkian, Saeed Jalili, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, and Alireza Zakani, who answered questions centered on cultural issues in their third debate.