Iran Feature: How the Revolutionary Guards Interfere in Elections
from EA WorldView by Scott Lucas
Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, and the Supreme
Leader
Since 1979 --- despite a mandate to operate outside politics, backed up by
an injunction from Ayatollah Khamenei --- the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps and Basij have become increasingly active in the political sphere.
They have interfered with the operation of free and fair elections under the
guise of protecting the Revolution, they have subverted electoral law with
impunity. On each occasion, their meddling has become more brazen and less
furtive. These forces now make up a parallel government that works to
control and subvert the democratic process.
Mohammad Reza Sardari, in an article originally published in Persian,
presents an overview of the growing influence of Iran's armed forces.
The intervention of armed forces in the election process of the Islamic
Republic of Iran can be traced back to its early days in the 1980s after the
establishment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In 2007 the Basij-e Mostaz'afin (literally "Mobilization of the Oppressed"),
established in 1979 as a paramilitary force, came under the supervision of
the IRGC. Both are directly controlled by the Supreme Leader. Unlike the
army, both the IRGC and Basij have always interfered in elections, despite
the fact that there is no law giving them authority to do so.
According to election laws, police and military forces, armed or not, are
prohibited from any interference in arranging and supervising elections
(article 24 of Presidential Election Law and article 16 of Parliamentary
Election Law).
Military forces do not have the right to participate in any electoral
process; from campaigning to vote counting to macro-level processes such as
the management of elections. Furthermore, military forces and intelligence
officials are prohibited from serving as representatives of candidates at
polling stations stations (note 4 of single article of the Law of
Representatives of Presidential Candidates). Additionally, according to
article 40 of the Armed Forces Penal Code, any participation, intervention,
or activity of armed forces officials at rallies, in political disputes, or
campaigning is forbidden, punished by six months to three years of
imprisonment.
Article 49 of the Disciplinary Bylaws of the Armed Forces also mentions
further prohibitions....
The IRGC's statute prohibit its members from participating in political and
partisan affairs. According to article 47 of the same statute: "The Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps politically and ideologically follows the commands
of the Guardianship of the Jurist (Velayat-e Faqih). This foundation is
autonomous from all political parties and groups and should never act as a
political party or organization."...
Meddling of Basij and IRGC in Elections
But how does the IRGC engineer and influence elections? They act based on
the country's political situation, candidate participation, and the type of
the elections. Given the diversity and geographical dispersal of candidates,
activities of the Corps are not centralized in parliamentary elections. The
basic principle is to have a parliament with a majority of MPs who are
unquestioning followers of the Supreme Leader.
The IRGC's activities can be classified into two categories:
The first category is its security and intelligence activities and
identification of the candidates in cooperation with the Guardian Council
and Ministry of Intelligence. Although the IRGC's role is covert, final
decisions are usually made in operation rooms similar to those we see in a
war situation. If there is no serious competitor for their desired
candidates and no cost of [politically] eliminating an opposing candidate,
the appointed candidate is in fact a member of parliament before the
elections even take place.
However, if the constituency contains several candidates, the Corps goes to
the second phase of its operation and uses its members, including members of
the Basij, to select the candidate most in line with the position of the
Supreme Leader. They use methods such as buying or directing votes. These
methods require trainings which have already been offered to the members
through general camps.
The IRGC's operation is different when it comes to Presidential elections.
Unlike parliamentary elections, the IRGC's role is more prominent. Directing
votes, sabotaging the activities of competitors, and even engineering the
vote counting process are among the methods the IRGC uses. Activities of the
"political guides" of the IRGC (whose members mostly consist of clerics)
under the supervision of the Supreme Leader's representative, the
establishment of special camps for elections with the excuse of providing
training for security, the distribution of flyers among IRGC and Basij
members, surveillance of the activities of competitors, and security
encounters, if necessary, are methods commonly used by the Corps in
Presidential elections.
Final words
The presence of the powerful military institution of the Revolutionary Guard
Corps and its dominance over the electoral process makes it impossible to
conduct a free election. The highest authorities of this gigantic
organization have shown in word and deed that even members of village
councils should unquestioningly follow the orders of the Supreme Leader. The
IRGC has gone even further and interfered in elections of non-governmental
organizations such as Iran's Physicians' Association. Therefore, it can be
concluded that although military forces are clearly prohibited to interfere
in elections according to the law, the electoral system is dominated by
their interventions, making it impossible to have free elections.
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