# יראַן מען גרייט צו אָפּוואַרפן 'סעלעקציע'

Today (21 February) Iran is holding parliamentary elections. That is if you believe the regime and its leaders. But in reality. the 290 deputies will enter the Islamic Consultative Council, Majlis (Parliament) through a selection rather than an election, writes Hossein Abedini.

The clerical regime is effectively preserving a monopoly of power through the Supreme Leader, by virtue of a “Guardian Council”. All candidates for public office are vetted and approved by this unelected body - appointed by the Supreme Leader, Khamenei - on the basis of their “heartfelt” and “practical” allegiance to Khamenei.

This time, the Guardian Council disqualified 55% of the 16033 candidates, including 90 sitting members of the current parliament. Some projections say that Khamenei die-hards are poised to gain 260 seats, leaving only 30 for the rival faction.

The 2020 parliamentary elections come at a time when the country is the scene of popular uprising shaking the regime to its core. Khamenei is reeling from irreparable blow he suffered with the elimination of Qassem Soleimani as well as protests in Iraq and Lebanon against his regime’s malign interventions.

The Supreme Leader is in dire need of instituting a unipolar regime to compensate for the regime’s weak and vulnerable position. Terrified of a nationwide boycott of this election farce, the regime tries to present a united front.

On Wednesday (19 February), Khamenei, said “participation is a religious duty and edict”. One day later, the regime’s so-called moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, said: “Everyone must vote as an election boycott will make America happy.”

In contrast, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Iran's pro-democracy opposition coalition, called on all Iranians to boycott tomorrow’s sham election. “Boycotting this charade is a patriotic duty and the nation’s bond with the martyrs of the Iranian people, especially the 1,500 martyrs of the November uprising”, Maryam Rajavi said in a speech, referring to protests last year. 

אַדווערטייזמאַנט

Heeding this call students in Tehran held a protest against the regime earlier this week, chanting: "Neither the ballot box, nor vote, election boycott", "People grapple with poverty, the mullahs think of votes", and "Be afraid, be afraid, we are all together". https://ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/iran-protests/27405-iran-protests-in-polytechnic-amir-kabir-university-on-40th-day-memorial-of-victims-of-downed-ukrainian-airliner

A semi-official poll recently showed that 83% of the population will not participate in this “election”. The poll was immediately removed.

The Iranian people have made their choice. They are to boycott the sham elections and continue to the protests. The Anglo-Iranian communities in the UK will hold a rally outside Number 10 Downing Street on Friday in support of this rejection of the religious dictatorship in its entirety.

The UK Government should take note of this development and adjust its Iran policy accordingly to include a recognition of and support for the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people and their just resistance in NCRI for a free and democratic Iran.

Hossein Abedini is a member of Parliament in exile of the Iranian resistance (NCRI) and its Foreign Affairs Committee. He is a surviving victim of Iran's terrorism regime. He is also the press spokesman of the NCRI in the UK.