A woman walks past a wall bearing electoral campaign posters, ahead of the upcoming elections, in Tehran on February 24, 2024. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

With just a week remaining before a Presidential election, Iranians are divided over whether voting will address pressing economic issues and mandatory hijab laws.

Iranians head to the polls on June 28 to choose from six candidates — five conservatives and a relative reformist — to succeed Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.

The election comes as Iran grapples with economic pressures, international sanctions and enforcement of the compulsory headscarves for women.

“They promise change, but won’t do much,” said Hamid Habibi, a 54-year-old shop owner at Tehran’s bustling Grand Bazar.

“I’ve watched the debates and campaigns; they speak beautifully but need to back their words with action,” he said.

Despite his scepticism, Habibi plans to vote next week.

The candidates have held two debates, each pledging to tackle the financial challenges impacting the country’s 85 million people.

“The economic situation is deteriorating daily, and I don’t foresee any improvements,” said Fariba, a 30-year-old who runs an online store.

“Regardless of who wins, our lives won’t change,” she said.

‘No difference’

Others, like 57-year-old baker Taghi Dodangeh, remain hopeful.

“Change is certain,” he said, viewing voting as a religious duty and national obligation.

But Jowzi, a 61-year-old housewife, expressed doubts, especially about the candidate line-up.

“There’s hardly any differences between the six,” she said. “One cannot say any of them belongs to a different group.”

Also Read | How will Iran President’s death impact the region?

Iran’s Guardian Council approved six candidates after disqualifying most moderates and reformists.

Leading contenders include conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the sole reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Keshvar, a 53-year-old mother, intends to vote for the candidate with the most robust economic plan.

“Young people are grappling with economic hardships,” she said.

“Raisi made efforts, but on the ground, things didn’t change much for the general public, and they were unhappy.”

In the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power, many voters stayed away, resulting in a participation rate of just under 49% — the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

‘Act humanely’

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged a high voter turnout.

Yet, 26-year-old shopkeeper Mahdi Zeinali said he would only vote if a candidate proves to be “the right person”.

This election comes at a turbulent time, with the Gaza war raging between Iran’s adversary Israel and Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, along with ongoing diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Compulsory hijab laws remain contentious, particularly since mass protests triggered by the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was detained for an alleged breach of Iran’s dress code for women, who are required to cover their heads and necks and wear modest clothing in public.

Despite increased enforcement, many women, especially in Tehran, defy the dress code.

Fariba expressed concern that after the election, “things would go back to where they were”, and young women wouldn’t be able to remove their headscarves.

Jowzi, an undecided voter who wears a veil, regards it as a “personal” choice and opposes state interference.

“It makes no difference who becomes president,” she said.

“What’s important is what they actually do. It’s not important to me whether or not they have a turban. They need to act humanely.”

File picture of Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran’s supreme leader presided over a funeral Wednesday for the country’s late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held the service at Tehran University, the caskets of the dead draped in Iranian flags with their pictures on them. On the late President Ebrahim Raisi’s coffin sat a black turban — signifying his direct descendence from Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

“Oh Allah, we didn’t see anything but good from him,” Mr. Khamenei said in the standard prayer for the dead in Arabic, the language of Islam’s holy book, the Quran. He soon left and the crowd inside rushed to the front, reaching out to touch the coffins. Iran’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, stood nearby and openly wept during the service.

People then carried the coffins out on their shoulders, with chants outside of “Death to America!” They loaded them onto a semitruck trailer for a procession through downtown Tehran to Azadi, or “Freedom,” Square, where Raisi gave speeches in the past.

In attendance were top leaders of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one of the country’s major power centers. Also on hand was Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the militant group that Iran has armed and supported during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. Before the funeral, Mr. Haniyeh spoke and an emcee led the crowd in the chant: “Death to Israel!”

“I come in the name of the Palestinian people, in the name of the resistance factions of Gaza… to express our condolences,” Mr. Haniyeh told those gathered.

He also recounted meeting Raisi in Tehran during Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month, and heard the president say the Palestinian issue remains the key one of the Muslim world.

The Muslim world “must fulfil their obligations to the Palestinians to liberate their land,” Mr. Haniyeh said, recounting Raisi’s words. He also described Raisi calling the October 7 attack that sparked the war, which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken hostage, an “earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity.” The war since has seen 35,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of others in the West Bank in Israeli operations.

Also expected to attend services in Tehran were Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation from the Taliban of Afghanistan, including their Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqqi.

Iran’s theocracy declared five days of mourning over Sunday’s crash, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events.

For Iran’s Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of their leadership since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, and also attended his funeral 10 years later.

An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. In that ceremony, Khamenei openly wept over Soleimani’s casket alongside Raisi. On Wednesday, Khamenei appeared composed, though he later hugged family members of the dead on his way out.

Whether Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout presidential election in the country’s history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent.

Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash.

Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran’s supreme leader, the 85-year-old Mr. Khamenei. His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of planned June 28 elections.