Iran’s Green Movement Leaders Divided: Two Boycott Election, One Votes

Iran’s Green Movement leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard abstained from voting in the presidential elections, while Mehdi Karroubi publicly endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian, the sole reform-leaning candidate.

The daughter of Mousavi and Rahnavard, who have been under house arrest since 2011, announced on Friday that her parents would abstain from participating in the presidential election. Meanwhile, Karroubi was photographed casting his ballot, and his son had previously confirmed his endorsement of Pezeshkian.

The Green Movement sprang up in 2009, when in a dubious presidential election Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was unexpectedly was announced the winner, triggering protests. Mousavi and Karroubi who were running against Ahmadinejad were later put under house arrest after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denounced then as "seditionists."

This is while the relatively moderate Pezeshkian's candidacy is seen by many as an attempt to create an illusion of competition and boost historically low voter turnout, as witnessed in the 2023 parliamentary elections, where turnout hit a record low since 1979.

Iran's un-elected election watchdog, the Guardian Council allowed five conservative-hardliners and one reform-minded candidate to run. Two hardliners dropped out and four candidates remained.

Activists also announced that while authorities brought a ballot box to Ward 4 of Tehran's Evin prison, housing numerous political prisoners, the prisoners abstained from voting.

Many, including several students, women's and youth organizations, and civil and political activists, have called for boycotting the presidential election. Over 500 teachers, union activists, and cultural figures publicly declared their abstention. Also, notable figures such as imprisoned Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi criticized the upcoming election, denouncing it as a facade orchestrated by an “oppressive regime.”

Friday's presidential election is the first after the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in 2022, which marked a significant demand for secular governance, human rights, women's rights, and rational foreign policies in Iran.

Last year, following the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement that was triggered following the death of Mahsa Jina Amini while in the custody of the so-called morality police, Mousavi called for the end of clerical rule, which over 400 political activists and journalists supported. The state's subsequent killing of at least 550 protesters during its crackdown has been labeled a crime against humanity by a UN fact-finding mission.