The election of Ebrahim Raisi as president of Iran has completed a hard-line conservative sweep of all key political institutions in the country. Raisi won handily in last week’s election, but his victory came after the Guardian Council that vets candidates blatantly gerrymandered the race by eliminating all notable moderate and reformist contenders. Public anger and apathy then led a record low turnout.
The brazen power grab has shocked Iranians, who registered their displeasure by not voting or casting protest votes. Iranians by and large see the outcome as a worrisome threat to civil and political rights, and a setback for economic and social reforms. Many are disdainful of a president whose career is marked by overseeing the execution of thousands of political prisoners in the late 1980s.
