{"id":1027,"date":"2017-05-11T16:07:52","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T16:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2017-05-11T16:15:55","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T16:15:55","slug":"1027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1027","title":{"rendered":"Iran election\u2019s theatrics, frank discourse push boundaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

FILE — In this Tuesday, May 9, 2017 file photo, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, center, waves to his supporters accompanied by Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, left, at a campaign rally for the May 19 presidential election, in Tehran, Iran. From a former president disobeying the supreme leader to open discussion of a 1980s mass execution, Iran\u2019s presidential election is pushing the boundaries of what can be discussed and done there, a small but noticeable shift in the country\u2019s clerically overseen polls. (Vahid Salemi, File\/Associated Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Jon Gamberell -The Washington Post – AP May 10. 2017 – DUBAI, United Arab Emirates<\/span> From a former president disobeying the supreme leader to open discussion of a 1980s mass execution, Iran\u2019s presidential election is pushing the boundaries of what can be discussed in public and done online, a small but noticeable shift in the country\u2019s clerically overseen polls.<\/h5>\n

<\/h1>\n

The push doesn\u2019t portend a dramatic change to the structure of the Islamic Republic, under which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say over all state matters and clerics determine who can run for office and what bills become law.<\/p>\n

It does, however, show that the government\u2019s ability to clamp down on criticism is waning as Iranians turn to encrypted messaging applications like Telegram and internet chats ahead of the May 19 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about the fact that the state has less control of the discursive realm. It\u2019s much easier for people to get information out,\u201d said Adnan Tabatabai, an Iran analyst based in Germany who is the CEO of the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe social media realm is no longer just the space for, let\u2019s say, young, reform-minded moderate figures and people. The conservative and hard-line elements have (done) their homework in that regard so they can use these channels as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election appeared at first to be a walk for incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, whose moderate administration negotiated the 2015 deal with world powers to curb its nuclear activities. But while Iran has signed multi-billion-dollar deals with airplane manufacturers, the benefits of the lifting of sanctions have yet to reach most Iranians, fueling discontent.<\/p>\n

Then came the surprise entry into the race of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had questioned the Holocaust, predicted Israel\u2019s demise and ramped up the nuclear program during his eight years in office. Authorities ultimately quashed his bid through the clerical screening that controls who can run . However, his short-lived campaign, in defiance of Khamenei\u2019s advice that he not run, challenged the supreme leader\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

As the candidate field firmed up, Iranians of all political stripes shared messages, photos and video across the mobile messaging application Telegram. The app\u2019s designers say some 40 million of its active users are in Iran, a nation of 80 million people. This year\u2019s vote marks the first presidential election held since the app swept across Iran.<\/p>\n

Supporters of hard-line candidate Ebrahim Raisi circulated a video supposedly shot with passers-by on the streets of Tehran looking at a picture of a car bombing. All suggest the attack happened somewhere else until they turn over the picture to see it happened in Iran, allegedly at the hands of the exiled Mujahedeen-e-Khalq group.<\/p>\n

The video seeks to defend Raisi, a favorite of Khamenei, and justify his alleged involvement in the 1988 mass execution of thousands of prisoners , many of them MEK members. It also represents a hard-line justification for the executions, one of the darkest moments of Iran\u2019s post-revolution history still not recognized by its government.<\/p>\n

Rouhani supporters also have effectively used Telegram. After state television censored part of a Rouhani advertisement that included shouts supporting reformists detained after Iran\u2019s disputed 2009 presidential election, the unedited video quickly spread through the app.<\/p>\n

In another break from precedent, Rouhani has increasingly criticized Iran\u2019s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a hard-line paramilitary force answering only to Khamenei. During Friday\u2019s televised presidential debate, Rouhani pointed to the March 2016 launch of a ballistic missile bearing the words \u201cIsrael must be wiped out\u201d in Hebrew, accusing the Guard of trying to sabotage the nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

Rouhani kept up that criticism during a campaign stop Monday in Iran\u2019s western city of Hamedan. \u201cTell the extremists and those who use violence that your era is over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Analysts call the move risky.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shift will surely galvanize the reformist masses that only reluctantly backed Rouhani in 2013, but it is a risky strategy given the (Guard\u2019s) knack for reprisal,\u201d wrote Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. \u201cThere is a fine line between animating an Iranian electorate that has a proven preference for anti-status quo candidates, and prompting Khamenei to fear for his grip on power as the regime\u2019s ultimate authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rouhani himself hasn\u2019t escaped criticism. During his visit Sunday to the site of a mining disaster that killed at least 42 people, angry miners beat on his armored SUV and shouted at him.<\/p>\n

Videos by the semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to have ties to the Guard, first broke news of the incident \u2014 via their Telegram channels, rather than their news wires.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn tragedy, when clerics are supposed to sympathize with ordinary people, they don\u2019t,\u201d said Mehdi Khalaji, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near-East Policy. \u201cThis has widened the gap between people and the clerics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say that growing divide, and other contradictions in Iran\u2019s unique political system, will determine its future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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