“Any one of these men picked by Khamenei will execute his orders,” the 80-year-old said in an interview in his house near Paris, where he has been exiled since 1981.

“The Republic is erasing itself in the face of the Leader.”

Reuters.  “Iran’s former president: Khamenei erasing elections.”  The Jerusalem Post, June 12, 2013.

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire;
He rages against all wise judgment . . .

Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty,
And before honor is humility.

Proverbs 18:1 and 12, Bible Gateway.

Who in Iran will vote against their own will, against their own interests, against themselves?

Perhaps a few Iranians are mulling that question as I type.

Al Arabiya asks in its related header (June 11, 2013), “Does the president even matter?”

The article will go on to answer the question it has posed.

It seems there are nuts and bolts issues to be tackled by an Iranian president — inflation and unemployment, at least — but power ultimately resides with Ayatollah Khamenei by divine right.

From Washington, Iran Election Watch notably covers the candidates on their positions having to do with Iran’s nuclear programs (June 12, 2013): “Nuclear Issue Provokes Strong Reactions in Presidential Debate.”  The article quotes candidate Ali Akbar Velayati as saying, “We need to insist on our right to enrich uranium and at the same time act cleverly and avoid being perceived as whimpering by other countries.”

Perhaps its that “act cleverly” part that will spur some Iranians more concerned with inflation and unemployment to vote for other than Velayati.

Reporters Without Borders condemns an increase in the Iranian government’s harassment of Iranian journalists in the final days before the 14 June presidential election and the restrictions imposed on the few foreign journalists allowed into the country to cover it.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB).  “Harassment, Restrictions and Censorship Limit Election Coverage.”  June 12, 2013.

Manipulating elections neither fair nor free nor open, the Grand Peacock has perhaps exerted sufficient control over elections — by approving only a narrowed field of candidates and by managing the “Iran Curtain” to slow Internet traffic and reduce domestic and foreign media criticism and impact, which management seems to have included already the arrests of two domestic journalists (Omid Abdolvahabi and Hesamaldin Eslamlo, according to the RWB page cited) — to keep himself feeling good about himself.

Reporters Without Borders goes on to note, “Today is the second anniversary of Iran-e-Farda journalist Hoda Saber’s death in detention, 11 days after journalist and women’s rights activist Haleh Sahabi died as a result of the beating she received at her father’s funeral. No one has been arrested or tried for either of these deaths.”

In the atmosphere of such governance and unsolved political crime, one might ask Persians who intend to vote whether they mean to express preference at the polling stations or general approval of their country’s state of affairs.

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