Iran elections showed deep-running ties between people, establishment: Journalist

A senior Lebanese journalist says the lively popular participation in Iran’s presidential elections clearly bore witness to the “deep-running connection” between the country’s people and its Islamic establishment.

Nasser Qandil, editor-in-chief of Lebanon's al-Binaa newspaper, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.

The elections were held on Friday, resulting in an overwhelming victory by Judiciary Chief Ibrahim Raeisi, amid an all-out political and media war led by the United States as well as its Western and regional allies targeting the event.

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In line with the campaign, the country’s opponents began portraying a very gloomy picture of the polls to discourage popular contribution inside and outside the country.

Amid the incessant attacks, however, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei put out a clear message, inviting Iranians to stage a zealous participation in the event, therefore, frustrating the countries’ enemies.

Qandil described the exact areas, where the malicious anti-Iran campaign had failed after the public heeded Ayatollah Khamenei’s clarion call.

First things first, the level of the turnout flew right in the face of the foreign attacks, which had estimated that it would not go beyond 28 percent, the journalist said.

He reminded how the public reception prompted the officials to extend the time limit on the elections several times, with the polls remaining open well past midnight.

This, Qandil noted, took the same foreign media outlets by surprise and had them confess to the magnitude of the popular participation.

Secondly, the sabotage campaign failed to prove that the US-led economic warfare against Iran had succeeded in turning the people away from the polls, the expert said. Washington has been using sanctions as its weapon of choice in the war, preventing Iran from buying even its basic necessities and blocking the country’s access to its overseas financial resources.

“The Iranian people showed that their independence is not up for sale,” the journalist said. They have seen what has become of the countries that have chosen to depend on the West, thus “selling their independence and getting stuck in a quagmire of debt,” he added.

“Despite increasing crises, Iranians are aware of their country’s great position and know that these crises are meant to act as means of breaking their willpower,” said the expert.

“Iranians have realized that the cost of resistance is far less than the cost carried by surrender, and that resistance opens up many options and opportunities.”
“Iranians showed that sanctions would not change their choices and the ones, who have to change, are those imposing the sanctions.”

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