The Iranian Resistance Units are increasing their campaign for a nationwide boycott of the Presidential elections in June. Across the country, people have been spreading the word through a variety of slogans, including:
- “Boycotting the election sham is a patriotic duty”
- “No to the sham elections”
- “Our vote is the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime, yes to a democratic republic”
- “Iranians will not vote, no to selling off the country”
- “Down with [supreme leader Ali] Khamenei”
Resistance Units in Nishabur, Mashhad, Zanjan, Tabriz, Tehran, Isfahan, and Saveh, put up posters of Resistance leaders Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, featuring the above messages and “Democracy and freedom with Maryam Rajavi”. While in Khorramabad, Bandar Anzali, and Ahvaz, they used graffiti to put the slogans in the view of the public.
It’s not just that the Resistance wants the elections to be boycotted because the overwhelming majority of the people want that too. This is why regime officials have been warning of a general boycott that would humiliate them on the world stage.
That’s why Khamenei was forced to make a speech last month, encouraging Iranians to vote and blaming their reluctance on foreign interference.
He said: “The enemy is saying that the elections have been “engineered” [and that] “your votes are of no consequence in improving the circumstances” [so] “why would you tire yourselves participating in the elections? But the nation should look at elections as a symbol of national unity, not as a symbol of division, discord, and polarity.”
Of course, it is not the result of foreign powers interfering. The regime is mired in crises and controversy right now, desperate for a big turn out to boost their legitimacy on the world stage with the hope that this will end international sanctions, but the people have put up with too much to prop up the mullahs.
Just last week, pensioners who have been protesting the regime’s corrupt economic policies for several weeks, chanted: “We will not vote anymore, we’ve seen no justice”.
While on the Resistance’s INTV television network, many contacted to support the boycott.
Kourosh from Kurdistan said: “The regime has always tried to create the impression of national unity during the elections while the mullahs have destroyed everything in our country. Yes, we will participate, not in the elections, but to overthrow Khamenei.”
While Bahman from Varamin said: “I have never voted in all these years. Because the regime only seeks to maintain its power. I call on all my compatriots to just review the regime’s record of 42 years repression, we will gain nothing from this election.”
