Vol. 73/No. 24      June 22, 2009

In an unprecedented move, state television is broadcasting six debates between the four candidates on the ballot. Running are Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president; Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was prime minister from 1981 to 1989; Mohsen Rezaei, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards from 1981 until the mid-1990s; and Mehdi Karroubi, former speaker of parliament.

A June 3 debate between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, watched by millions, captured the sharpness of the disagreements within the Iranian capitalist class, as it seeks to defend its interests in the face of hostile imperialist powers and a deep economic crisis that is devastating workers, small farmers, and sections of the middle class.

Mousavi assailed Ahmadinejad for his frequent anti-Semitic outbursts and his assertion that the Holocaust never happened. “AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee], the biggest Zionist institution in the U.S., sees this policy as a blessing,” Mousavi said in the debate. The president’s overall foreign policy suffers from “adventurism, instability, unlawfulness, and radicalism,” he added.

Mousavi promises to join direct talks with Washington and other imperialist governments on Iran’s nuclear program if elected, while Ahmadinejad has refused, demanding instead that President Barack Obama debate him at the United Nations.

Ahmadinejad hit back, charging that under Mousavi’s reign, and that of presidents after him, “the U.S. was seeking to topple the Islamic Republic. Today the U.S. has declared officially that it is not seeking to overthrow us.” He asked, “Which foreign policy has reinforced the country’s independence? Should we seek to satisfy the world powers? Is it possible to be soft in the face of oppression?”

Mousavi also criticized the fact that Iran’s censors have tightened requirements for publishing licenses since Ahmadinejad took office, although he has said no book “contrary to religion and the constitution” should be allowed. Ahmadinejad countered that presidents who came before him censored more books than he has.

Mousavi took office as prime minister shortly after a massive, popular social revolution shook Iran and overturned the Pahlavi dynasty, a close ally of Washington. The capitalist regime that came to power sought to tame the rebellion of workers, peasants, oppressed nationalities, and women through a government dominated by Islamic clerics. Over the next decade they imposed strict censorship and other curbs on free speech, used military force to suppress the Kurdish oppressed national minority, and persecuted leftist and communist organizations.

Like some other bourgeois political figures who took part in this counterrevolution, Mousavi has since concluded that too tight restrictions on democratic rights may backfire. He also speaks for the substantial layer of capitalists who look forward to an end to trade and financial sanctions and a rapprochement with the United States.  
 
Ahmadinejad attacks ‘corruption’
Ahmadinejad accused Mousavi of being bankrolled by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president of Iran and currently head of the Expediency Council, the liaison body between Iran’s ruling clerics and the parliament. Rafsanjani has earned widespread contempt from working people for having enriched himself and his family while in office.

“Which of my ministers has become a billionaire, or taken rents or usurped properties?” Ahmadinejad asked during the debate.

Discussion of women’s rights has been a feature of this race. Mousavi has declared that if elected he will disband the “morality police,” which harass women for not adhering to the strict dress code. His wife Zahra Rahnavard frequently speaks in public. At a recent Tehran campaign rally that drew thousands, mostly young people, she said, “Let us hope that removing discrimination against women will not remain just a wish.”

Fatemah Karroubi is also campaigning for her husband, stressing women’s rights. She has criticized the Guardian Council for not granting ballot status to any of the 42 women who filed papers to run for president.

Both Mousavi and Karroubi have aimed their campaigns particularly at young people on the campuses. Mousavi says jobs need to be created for the many university students who graduate with no prospect of finding work in their field. Karroubi says no students will be imprisoned for their political views if he wins.

Ahmadinejad also has support on the campuses; however, mostly among students in the basij, a volunteer militia force led by the Revolutionary Guards that frequently confronts demonstrations calling for more democratic rights. Former Guard commander Rezaei also has a base there.

All of Ahmadinejad’s opponents point to the nation’s high inflation, estimated at 25 percent, and persistent unemployment as reasons to oppose his reelection. Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in 2005 in large part on populist promises to use the country’s oil profits to benefit the poor. He has frequently visited the countryside, extended loans to peasants, and established rural development projects. Just weeks before the election, his office handed out cash payments of about $100—“justice shares” from state-owned companies—to villagers. Some 5.5 million low-income Iranians are receiving these funds.

Mousavi tested the waters in the rural areas June 5 by making a campaign stop in the town of Birjand, where Ahmadinejad received his highest vote percentage in 2005. Many companies have closed there since then.

Candidate Rezaei has gone the furthest in calling for rapid implementation of Article 44, a law that calls for privatization of some state-run companies. He also argues that the next government should be a coalition of the main political factions and include members of oppressed nationalities.
 
 
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