Why Do Iranians Bother Voting?
On Friday, they will cast ballots in their presidential elections—precisely because they do not believe in their system.
“However much you remove yourself from politics, you’re still inside this system” read the meme imploring me to vote during my last visit to Tehran in 2016. It was one of the many dozens of Facebook, Telegram, and text messages delivered by grassroots activists anxious to secure a friendly parliament for Iran’s incumbent president, Hassan Rouhani. Their shoestring get-out-the-vote campaign—loosely advanced on and amplified by a sprawling network of classmates, teachers, and second cousins—ran alongside an official state apparatus determined to signal its legitimacy to the world by producing a healthy turnout on election day. All told, more than 61 percent of Iran’s eligible voters showed
