Although Raisi's victory was seen by many as a forgone conclusion, an unprecedented number of 'blank and void votes' − at least 10 percent of ballots – reflected strong feelings over the election and after over two years of severe economic recession following punitive United States sanctions and the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces since December 2017.
✅ punitive United States sanctions
Many Iranian politicians and media pundits branded Friday's elections as stage-managed after many candidates who could pose a serious threat to Raisi − including former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, vice-President Es'haq Jahangiri, and former populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – were not cleared to stand by the election watchdog Guardian Council.
✅ media pundits
✅ stage-managed
✅ not cleared
✅ watchdog
The results were disappointing for those reformists who broke ranks and endorsed Hemmati, who came fourth in the poll with around 3 million votes. With little wind at his back, and widespread abstentions, Hemmati had little chance of repeating the surprise victories of Khatami in 1997, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 or Hassan Rouhani in 2013.
✅ little wind at his back
✅ widespread abstentions
Many of those who campaigned for boycotting the elections have already rounded on those who endorsed Hemmati, and during the campaign there were accusations that anyone voting was complicit in murder. Mahdieh Golroo, the US-based former prisoner, argued in a tweet that reformists had been “under the illusion they have a fixed percentage of votes.” Golroo suggested that past votes for reformists had been only protest votes against hardliners and that this time around people, faced with “humiliation,” took a different path by not voting.
✅ boycotting the elections
✅ complicit in murder
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