Iran Election 2021: Online Campaign Echoes Call for Nationwide Boycott
Written by
Shahriar Kia
Iranians abroad and inside Iran held a Tweet-A-Thon on Sunday, starting 1730 CET, which continues until now. Thousands of tweets have been posted so far, calling for boycotting the Iranian regime’s sham presidential election. These calls are in line with the growing call by Iranians from all walks of life with the widespread campaign by the Iranian opposition, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) ’s Resistance Units being in its forefront. Hundreds of video clips of Resistance Units’ activities were posted in this campaign.
The hashtag “#BoycottIranShamElections” has been so far posted thousands of times, spreading across the internet. This campaign reflects the Iranian people’s demand for regime change. It also shows the MEK’s Resistance Units’ effectiveness in pushing for a nationwide boycott of the regime’s sham elections.
Iran
TWEET-a-THON#BoycottIranShamElections
SUNDAY MAY 30, 2021
17:30 CEST | 11:30 AM EDT
Stand United with the Iranian People #رای_من_سرنگونی pic.twitter.com/fSrvb4c1Wf— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 30, 2021
For the last few months, the MEK’s Resistance Units have expanded their activities across Iran, popularizing the call for boycotting the regime’s sham election in June. Due to the Resistance Units’ major push in the last few months for boycotting the regime’s sham election, more Iranians have been joining this campaign both inside and outside Iran.
The MEK Resistance Units continue their activities while in the coming weeks due to the upcoming sham presidential election, the regime has intensified repression. The MEK Resistance Units wrote slogans on the walls of various cities. Some of these slogans are: “My vote is regime change, yes to a democratic republic,” “Under mullahs’ regime there is no such thing as an ‘election,’” “A Free vote for every Iranian is a No to the mullahs’ regime and yes to freedom and democracy,” and “Down with Khamenei.”
According to the MEK, “During the month of April, over 250 areas in 27 provinces checkered across Iran witnessed activities calling for a full boycott of the regime’s sham presidential elections in June.”
The regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, showed his intention of making his regime unipolar by pulling Ebrahim Raisi out of the ballot box. Thus, Iran’s state-run media have also acknowledged in recent days that how this contraction policy will be in favor of the campaign of boycotting the regime’s elections.
“The current approach shows the tendency towards complete unification of the system. The existing problems, especially the country’s economic crisis, are too large for a single faction or political group to manage. The country’s problem is not limited to the economic crisis. Cultural, social, and even political crises are no less dangerous than economic crises, if not more serious and dangerous,” the state-run Jomhuri-e Eslami (Islamic Republic) daily warned regime officials on Saturday.