A day after former president Hassan Rouhani was barred from working within the upcoming March 1 election, the Iranian public remained detached to his scenario.
Iranian hardliners controlling a conspicuous vetting mechanism advised the previous president that he was barred for working for re-election on the Assembly of consultants that may elect the following Supreme Leader after Ali Khamenei’s dying.
Most Iranian analysts attributed the indifference to Rouhani’s political positions and efficiency throughout his presidency, particularly in his second time period from 2017-2021.
Iranian social media researcher Mohammad Rahbari has discovered that based mostly on Google Trends metrics software, through the previous day, nearly all of Iran-based queries on the Google search engine had been associated to the execution of 23-year-old political prisoner Mohammad Ghobadlou. The variety of searches about Rouhani had been considerably lower than these about the rising greenback fee Ghobadlou and even Raisi.
Meanwhile, Iran International TV analyst Mehdi Mahdavi Azad argued that the folks couldn’t care much less about Rouhani’s disqualification as he has upset Iranians after over 20 million of them voted for him in 2013 and 2017 by taking sides with Khamenei and his hardline supporters.
An identical viewpoint was expressed by investigative reporter Mojtaba Pourmohsen in a report on Iran International TV on January 25. Pourmohsen additional advised that Rouhani’s disqualification signaled Khamenei’s intention to appoint his son, Mojtaba, as the following Supreme Leader.
Ali Hossein Ghazizadeh, one other Iran International analyst, attributed the folks’s indifference to Rouhani’s disqualification to his incapacity to deal with the folks’s calls for throughout his presidency. Ghazizadeh mentioned that Rouhani led the folks to consider that change was unattainable within the Islamic Republic, no matter who was the pinnacle of the chief department of the federal government. He added that even those that help the regime now not consider in the potential for any optimistic change in Iran by voting within the elections.
Morad Veisi, a senior Iranian analyst advised Iran International TV that the event marks the top of the average camp in Iran which was led by Rouhani.
In one other analytical remark, Iran-based reformist commentator Abbas Abdi advised that Rouhani’s disqualification was extra about what he may do sooner or later than about his previous actions or inactions. Abdi was probably referring to Rouhani’s potential position in figuring out Iran’s subsequent chief on the Assembly of Experts.
Other Iranian analysts questioned what Rouhani had achieved throughout his 24 years as a member of the Assembly of Experts, the physique tasked with selecting the Islamic Republic’s subsequent chief. They additionally raised issues about his continued presence throughout the Assembly, the place most members had been political rivals and even adversaries.
Rasoul Montajabnia, the Secretary-General of the Reformist Jomhouriat Party, expressed concern that Rouhani’s absence may result in low voter turnout within the upcoming elections on March 1, as even those that had meant to take part is perhaps discouraged after Rouhani’s disqualification.
Meanwhile, an adviser to former Expediency Council Chief Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Gholam Ali Rajai mentioned that Rouhani’s disqualification will entail different developments. Rajai mentioned that conservative determine and former intelligence operative and Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi has additionally been disqualified and barred from collaborating as an Assembly of Experts election candidate. He mentioned this was a supply of concern, however didn’t clarify why.
Former Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, one other former intelligence chief, was additionally barred from each Majles and Assembly of Experts elections, main observers to invest that political purification is perhaps occurring inside Iran’s intelligence neighborhood.
Some analysts speculated that an unlikely decree by Khamenei may reinstate Rouhani within the Assembly of Experts election, however a defeat in that election can be a major setback for the previous president.