Persian linguistics and culture instructor Peyman Nojoumian

Persian linguistics and culture instructor Peyman Nojoumian

Tensions in Iran continue following charges of widespread voting fraud in that country’s June 12 presidential election.  One of the latest developments unfolded on July 4 when a respected group of clerics, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, issued a statement proclaiming the election and the new government to be illegitimate. Peyman Nojoumian, is a visiting linguisics instructor at the UI who teaches Persian with an emphasis on culture, commerce, politics and Islam. Nojoumian, who was born in Tehran and was there until hours after election results were announced, discussed the political situation in Iran with News Bureau editor Melissa Mitchell.

What is the basis for charges that results of the presidential elections were fraudulent?

Three main factors form the basis for these allegations. First, key members of the Guardians Council, consisting of six clerics directly appointed by the supreme leader and the supreme leader himself, clearly are biased in favor of Mahoud Ahmadinejad, contrary to the impartial role that the constitution dictates to them. The council is responsible to ensure and confirm the validity of the elections. Ayatollah Jannati, head of the Guardians Council, had supported Ahmadinejad just before the election.  In fact, Ahmadinejad’s government speaker, Mr. Elham, is a member of the Guardians Council. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, congratulated Ahmadinejad even before the council confirmed the validity of the election. 

Second, although there were only 45 million eligible voters, 15 million extra ballots were printed by the Interior Ministry. Nevertheless, many voting stations closed much sooner than the announced closing times because of lack of enough ballots. Iranian elections use one of the most inefficient voting systems and are prone to errors.
Finally, it was claimed that representatives of Ahmadinejad’s rivals were denied access to the polling stations and votes were transferred to the Interior Ministry and counted in their absence. Furthermore, election analysis by the London-based Chatham House confirmed that the official results in which Ahmadinejad was declared the winner could only have been achieved with massive vote rigging. The report was based on voting patterns from previous elections and a 2006 census.  On June 22, the Guardians Council admitted minor election irregularities but asserted that even if votes would be recounted in more than 50 disputed stations, it would not change the results dramatically. According to Rezai, the candidate closer to conservatives, in 170 stations the number of actual votes was more than the eligible voters.

Given Iran’s complex leadership structure, in which the president’s role is diminished in comparison to that typical in most democracies, does it really matter if Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi – or any of the other candidates – were legitimately elected to that office? Does the president wield that much power or influence in the end?

Although it is the supreme leader, or so-called Waliye Faqih, who wields absolute power in Iran, history has shown that reformists have been able to achieve some forms of success especially in foreign policy, economic and social development. It was during the (rule of) former reformist president Khatami that the regime’s revolutionary guard – Sepah – was banned from doing economic activities. The media was also able to criticize the government freely. However, the regime’s main policies have always been dictated by the hardliner conservatives headed by the supreme leader and Sepah commanders.

An elected reformist president like Mousavi, with wide support of the people, could have put more pressure on conservatives to soften the regime’s hard-line foreign policy and improved Iran’s economy. The current government had been criticized for its inefficient economic policies even by conservatives.

Some observers say the current political unrest in Iran is being fueled by more than allegations of rigged elections – that there is a widespread perception that the theocracy has violated constitutional directives and is losing the confidence of the people. Do you believe this is an accurate representation of what’s taking place?

The current election campaigns gave courage and confidence to people to express their opinions freely. People were motivated more than any other time to go to the streets and show their support for reformists before the unrest. The green bracelets and scarves were almost everywhere symbolizing the unity and solidarity among the Iranians.
In my opinion, people who had been repressed for long found themselves in unity before the election. The rigged election was just an excuse for the people because through all these years there was only one significant movement by the students, which was suppressed even before it could be born. People have long been waiting for the time to come in order to show their unity and courage in expressing their opposition to the oppressive regime.

It has been rumored that Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Experts Assembly, traveled to Qom in an attempt to convince the Islamic republic’s most powerful body of clerics, the Guardian Council, to meet to determine whether Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should remain in power. Is this credible speculation?

Rafsanjani is a smart politician and has always been playing a key role to maintain the regime’s integrity. He managed the war and saved Iran from the conspiracies plotted by Saddam when he invaded Kuwait.

Rafsanjani has been able to secure his two key positions as the head of the Experts Assembly and the Expediency Council during the time that he has been under fierce attacks by hardliners like Ahmadinejad.

The fact that he encouraged Experts Assembly to elect Khamenei as the supreme leader in 1989 would eliminate the idea of ousting him now. He, however, knows how to show his disagreement to his opponents. The rumor of ousting the leader because of his ineligibility is merely a tactic to put more pressure on the leader to give up on his support of hardliners.

In the June 19 sermon, Khamenei defended Rafsanjani against the accusations made by Ahmadinejad during the controversial presidential debate. However, the supreme leader made it clear that he still would support the president-elect.

How do you think current tensions in Iran ultimately may be resolved?

Eventually, a compromise between Khamenei and Rafsanjani may ease the tensions.

Nevertheless, the recent unrest in Iran has had two different outcomes. First, it showed the world that the majority of Iranians do not support the Islamic extremism. Secondly, Iranians found their real courage and unity again and today they are closer to the doors of democracy than ever. Regardless of the behind-the-scene fights for power within the regime, the people will finally win. Thanks to the technology revolution that is helping the Iranians to put the black era of these Middle Ages behind fast and gain the freedom they deserve.