Iranian Political Prisoner Calls for Boycott of Upcoming Presidential Polls

In a public letter, Rezaei said that “the Islamic Republic has no legitimacy, and this is a bet on the government's losing horse, repeating past mistakes.”

Since the 2022 uprising, Iran's government has faced the biggest legitimacy crisis since the founding of the Islamic Republic, with record unemployment, record poverty and mass social crackdowns on the populace.

She stated, "Once again, the Islamic government is seeking legitimacy by creating a choice between bad and worse, which has been the method of reformists for years".

Rezaei was arrested by security forces on May 22, 2023, and sentenced to 26 years in prison for "undermining national security" after supporting the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.

Golrokh Iraee, another political prisoner who criticized the government just a day earlier, called the encouragement to participate in the elections by reformists a "betrayal", though only one of the six candidates in the upcoming June 28 poll is from the reform camp, all others staunchly conservative allies of Iran's theocratic dictatorship.

Both prisoners argue that meaningful change is unattainable through the current electoral system, which they claim is rigged to favor the regime's interests to institute another ally of the ageing supreme leader, Ali Kahemenei.

Participation in the polls, called in the wake of the sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, is expected to hit record lows, similar to the March parliamentary elections. Unofficial reports estimate voter turnout to have been as low as 10 percent, with the last two presidential polls similarly low.