Mustafa Hijri, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran (HDKA) who took part in the panel said that Kurds have reached the conclusion that nothing turns in favor of the Kurds by participating in the elections.
“Kurds have understood that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not fulfill promises it has made to them," Hijri said, explaining that it has turned out that elections make no change or development for Kurds in Iran.
To show itself as a democratic regime to the world Iran is “playing a theatre” and in reality “it does not believe in the vote of people or multi ethnicities,” Hijri said.
He urged other Kurdish political parties of Iran to boycott the elections and encouraged the people to do the same.
“Promises the regime made about liberty were gradually reduced and never came true,” he said.
The Kurdish vote is likely to play a deciding role as the race between the two main presidential contenders, incumbent President Hasan Rouhani and his conservative opponent Ebrahim Raisi, is expected to be tight in the 12th presidential elections.
Iran’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (HDK) leader Mustafa Mawloodi echoed the sentiment that Kurds should refrain from casting ballots as they have also boycotted the presidential elections along with six other political parties.
About local council elections, Mawloodi said they have encouraged people to turnout in large numbers as it is important for the Kurds to win.
More than 83,000 candidates have registered in Iran’s Kurdistan to run for offices in city and provincial councils as the country goes to polls on Friday.
The race for city and provincial assemblies in Kurdish inhabited areas is marked by severe ethnic competition between Kurdish and Azeri candidates with both groups trying to secure more legislative offices in regions where both have territorial claims.
Elections for city councils, which will simultaneously take place with presidential elections, have regularly been held since 1998 when the so-called moderate forces took control of both the government and parliament.
Mawloodi said incumbent Hassan Rouhani’s four-year term as president and one of the frontrunners of this election did benefit the Kurdish people.
He praised “the unanimity and the opposition,” of Kurdish parties who refused to take part in the elections and described it as fruitful.
Abdulla Muhtadi, the leader of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, stepped in and hailed the unanimous boycott of the elections and encouraged the people in Iranian Kurdish region to stay away from the elections.
“Taking part in the elections will indeed take away our votes,” Muhtadi said.
The leader of the Kurdish Communist Party of Iran had a different point of view, saying if 90 percent of Kurds will go to the polling stations and all cast votes blank in protest of the government’s policies towards the Kurdish nation, a major development in Kurdish movement will emerge.
For his part Omer Elkhanzada, leader of the Kurdistan Toilers Society in Iran urged the youth and people of the Iranian Kurdistan to get together and seize the opportunity of this upcoming election to send a political message to the Iranian regime.
