InsideIran – The Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, the political council close to Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the opposition leaders in Iran, released a new statement calling the upcoming Iranian parliamentary elections a political “show.”
This council was formed abroad following the disputed 2009 presidential elections. In its statement, the Coordination Council commended that reformists and other political opposition groups boycott the upcoming parliamentary election in March. The statement was first published on January 17 on Kalameh website, an online reformist publication close to Mir Hossein Mousavi.
As reported by BBC Persian this statement declared, “Different parts of the Green Movement… have demonstrated good capacity for transforming the ninth parliamentary election into a decisive civil struggle against tyranny.” The statement did not offer any specific means to organize or combat the ruling regime in Iran.
The Coordinating Council believes the Iranian government will use the upcoming elections to bolster its declining legitimacy. The statement adds: “The government hopes to advertise the competition between its own inner circles among various social groups. In this theatrical manner, [the government] will implement a seemingly competitive elections.”
“The authorities are trying to use all their propaganda, political, security, and police forces to force the people into participating in the elections,” the statement adds.
The statement also accuses the Iranian regime of trying to stay in power by all means. “In order to stay in power, [the Iranian government] disregards the country’s national and security interests. Therefore, it should not be surprising if until the Election Day we witness the implementation of various scenarios, which will result in the escalation of tensions and foreign threats. They [Iranian government] will use such events for propaganda purposes in order to provoke the patriotic sentiments of the people during elections.”
The Coordination Council has asked the members of the Green Movement to “play an important part in exposing the “theatrical and forced” March elections.” The statement also asks supporters to expose the government’s common scenarios designed for “fooling the people.”
In its statement, the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope has declared the period between February 15 until the Election Day, March 3, as an appropriate time to revitalize the protest movement in Iran. They called on all supports, especially the youth and university students, to “pursue the prospects of this movement during this time.” They have not provided any additional details.