Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Boycotts 2021 Presidential Election

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president, who was disqualified by the Guardian Council, announced on Wednesday, June 25th, that he will not participate in the presidential election and will not support any candidate.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a video statement that “the scope of people’s requests and insistence on his candidacy was such that I could not give a negative answer and finally I surrendered to the very widespread desire of the people and, despite knowing the country’s conditions, I registered”.

Referring to the fact that he had previously been disqualified twice “without providing any reason,” he said: “Because of the country’s conditions and out of respect for the people, I remained silent, but this time I came to register in response to people’s demands. I announced that if you reject me, I will certainly not participate in the election, I do not recognize it as legitimate, and I will not support anyone”.

Iran’s former president, referring to the Guardian Council’s introduction of 2021 election candidates on the third day of Khordad, said: “When announcing the list of names, they removed my name again and presented a specific, one-sided list to the people. Again, people from across the country called, creating a sense of public disappointment in society”.

Mr. Ahmadinejad raised the question: “Why did you reject me, or as you say, why didn’t you verify my qualifications? Twice, with very high votes from the people, I was entrusted with the responsibility of running the country. Did I fall short in performing my duty or was I weak in governing the country?”

This claim comes as both mentioned elections were controversial, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s declaration of victory in 2009 led to widespread Green Movement protests and ultimately the house arrest of protest leaders.

Ahmadinejad continued, saying that his disqualification was “an insult to the people and a violation of the constitution, and I will stand by that. They must come on television, in a live program with my presence, and announce why they rejected me, and I will respond”.

This is the first time that a prominent candidate and former official of the Islamic Republic has boycotted an election.

The Guardian Council, in addition to Mr. Ahmadinejad, disqualified Ali Larijani and Ishaq Jahangiri from other Islamic Republic officials, but these two only issued statements and called on people to participate in the election.

On Tuesday, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council reported interference by security institutions in the Guardian Council’s widespread disqualifications and accused them of “increasing interference through false reports in the decision-making” of this council.

Sadiq Amoli Larijani, who is himself a jurist member of the Guardian Council, had said: “I have never found the council’s decisions to be so indefensible; neither in approving qualifications nor in disqualifying them. The cause of these disorders, to a large extent, is the increasing interference of security apparatus through false reports in decision-making for the Guardian Council”.

The boycott of the election by Mr. Ahmadinejad comes as the Reformists have also announced that due to the Guardian Council’s rejection of their candidate, they have no candidacy in this election.

The list announced by this council shocked both the Reformist camp and some Principlist groups, and many political activists and social media users in the past two days have introduced Ibrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, as the premature winner of the election.

Mr. Raisi, who began his campaign activities on Wednesday, is supported by many government institutions and has not stepped down from his position as head of the judiciary.

Some activists and social media users have suggested that, given the early determination of the winning candidate, the election should not be held and the billions of tomans spent on holding it should be used for people’s livelihood and vaccine purchases.

In the thirteenth presidential election scheduled to be held on June 28th, 592 people registered, and the Guardian Council ultimately approved seven.

Iran’s presidential election atmosphere has been described as very cold and lifeless due to widespread economic problems, the effects of coronavirus, suppression in December 2017 and November 2019, and the lack of fairness and freedom in the election process.

Although this time the circle of qualification verification has also become narrower for the Reformists, in recent decades, no candidate other than political figures within the government affiliated with Principlists or Reformists has been allowed to enter the election.

This election is being held at a time when the recent nationwide wave of protests in Iran, including in December 2017, August 2018, and November 2019, have targeted the entire system of the Islamic Republic, with slogans raised against both the Reformist and Principlist factions.