On Two Controversies of the Ninth Parliament Elections

(Photo: fuzzy photo captured on a cell phone showing Mohammad Khatami voting in Damavand constituency. Source: Fars News)

With all its glory, the Friday’s parliamentary election had its own small contretemps, the most important of which were Mohammad Khatami's voting in a remote constituency near the city of Damavand [in east of Tehran] and Hashemi Rafsanjani’s remarks while casting his vote. Let us elaborate on these two cases:

1.   When casting his vote in the ballet, Hashemi Rafsanjani said: “if the results are the same as what the people cast in ballots, we will have a good parliament insha’allah.” Iteration of such comments by a seasoned diplomat like Hashemi Rafsanjani came as a surprise, knowing how equivocal remarks fueled turbulence after the 2009 presidential election. Rafsanjani’s comments of course could not dim the splendor of the Iranian nation’s participation in the parliamentary elections, but they tarnish his own image. There were no issues had he said “I hope that people’s votes are appropriately safeguarded,”: that is what all people hope for, and all election operatives and monitoring officials are endeavoring to achieve. Nonetheless, what Hashemi stated was quite offensive a remark against these people. Such libels are not accepted from anyone who loves the Islamic Revolution and the establishment, let alone Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Hashemi’s remark was an insult to hundreds of thousands of teachers, civil servants and vendors who served as electoral staff on Friday after weeks of intensive preparation. Yesterday, as Hashemi’s words was circulating via text messages, many expected his office to promptly deny the remarks. Unfortunately, they happened to have been actually uttered. But it is not too late: we want Hashemi to be the courageous man that he was in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, explain his remark, protect his own dignity and apologize hundreds of thousands of election operatives and supervisors.

2.   The next controversial event of Friday’s elections was Khatami's attendance in a voting station in a winter resort east of Tehran. Counter-revolutionary media initially denied or cast doubt on the news, just to target him with insults in their websites upon its confirmation. Khatami's presence at the voting ballot and his agreement with the majority of Iranians is of course praiseworthy. One may be deeply disappointed with the former president’s record in the 2009 post-election events, but to err is human and we should forgive those who have committed such mistakes.