Iranian news agency MEHR reported on Saturday that Zohreh Elahian has made history by becoming the first woman eligible to register for the impending snap presidential election in Iran.

    • CCCP Enjoyer@lemmygrad.ml
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      5 months ago

      My first though was that would make heads explode in the anglosphere, which would be really funny. But I bet they’d just be like “Well she has to wear clothing in public, so it doesn’t count.”

    • ☭CommieWolf☆@lemmygrad.ml
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      5 months ago

      Would be pretty interesting if she did, but I think odds are against her due to the other candidates this time around. Ahmadinejad in particular seems like a tough opponent.

      • cfgaussian@lemmygrad.mlOP
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        5 months ago

        In general when lesser known political figures go up against more widely known ones, the former tend to lose, unless there is a specific reason why the more well known candidates should be widely unpopular or disliked. But even then i would still say that just being more of a household name is often enough to overcome a negative image.

        In this election it appears that there will be a fair number of candidates whose names are, as far as i understand, widely known in Iranian society, and that makes it exceedingly difficult for a random MP who has not particularly distinguished herself in the media or held major government posts to win.

        Then again, as i always stress when i talk about a country whose politics i am not familiar with, i could very well be wrong and someone with more firsthand knowledge of the situation is more than welcome to correct me.

  • Dolores [love/loves]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    it is not clear to me that she is eligible, it appears that people register for election, then the Guardian Council approves or disapproves candidacy. women have registered before but were rejected, but perhaps she has a better chance as a proven conservative.

    • cfgaussian@lemmygrad.mlOP
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      5 months ago

      Fair point. I guess we’ll see. Approved candidates will be announced on June 11, i believe.

      She is anyway unlikely to win even if her candidacy qualifies because there are already several other candidates in the race who are much more politically prominent, such as former president Ahmadinejad (though he may also not be approved, and i don’t know how popular he was as a president anyway). But it would be a good precedent.