Here are the voices of five Iranian voters who during the course of their interviews reveal their political preferences and are critical of the election process. The content of the interviews is related to what I was saying about ex-President Khatami and his reformist bloc during yesterday's lecture. You can still find indications of people investing confidence and hope in the reformist candidates (who have been extremely limited due to the Guardian Council's disqualifications), but are mostly skeptical about their chances of being able to implement bills that would change the system.
Let us know what you think of these interviews either through the comments section on this blog or in class on Tuesday!
The interviews can be accessed through: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7256509.stm
- Keyan
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5 comments:
The various interviewees that were commenting on the elections to come seemed to be mostly concerned with the economic problems in their country. It seemed like each person was looking back on the presidency of Ahmadinejad as a failure due to his lack of stabilizing their economy. One man believed that it was not the fault of Ahmadinejad but of the European sanctions that are currently being held. The main problem I see with this system is that the voters are not able to pick a candidate whom they think would be good for the country due to the elimination of many potential candidates. It seems as if the seeds of democracy are growing within Iran purely due to the fact that many people are seeing things in a more economic light. Based on these interviews it seems as if everyone is unhappy with the current economy and longs for a person to change it. I believe with enough pressure from the Iranian citizens there is hope that Iran will develop into a country with less theological roots and more democratic roots.
I agree, the economy seems to be central in peoples thoughts for this election. Iranians are looking for a better leadership that can get Iran out of it's economic troubles. thenshesaid mentions that the economy seems to be making more people interested in democracy and I agree but thenshesaid missed that the europeans by imposing sanctions are freeing the Iranian government from accountability.
The comments show Iranians are not hopeful of any possibility of political change, and want to ensure their own livelihoods. The current government structure makes it impossible for any real democracy to flourish, and Iranians are worrying instead about getting food and supplies and someday leaving Iran, not as much about personal freedoms. The state's heavy subsides and price controls exacerbates the inflation caused by sanctions and the reliance on oil export.
Iran's foreign policy is similar to that of Russia and China, who are also dealing with unaccountable governments and rampant inflation of state-controlled economies, and Ahmadinejad is using Iran's nuclear program like how China and Russia are appealing to nationalist issues, such as army exercises, former Soviet states, and Taiwan, to create support for their governments.
I agree with the first two comments. The economy definitely seems to be #1 for the majority of Iranian's in regards to the upcoming elections. When watching the interviews it is clear these citizens are looking for the right person to lead their country into the unknown future. However, this particular kind of parliamentary system in Iran does not seem to fulfill the needs of all citizens. Eliminating many candidates before the big election may be an illegitimate factor in their democracy.
the economy is no doubt going to be the number one concern of the voters as it is the most easily identifiable factor that can affect their quality of life. I think it would also be an issue on which they could focus givn the lack of ablity to possibly make a real change in political direction as it cannot really be considered against the religious establishment to critic the government on matters of economics rather than social issues which are more set in terms of opinions and against dissent.
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