Iran presidential election fails to inspire hope for change amid tension with Israel, domestic challenges
Tehran — Iranians, some of them at least, will go to the polls on Friday to elect a new president. The election is to pick a replacement for former President Ebrahim Raisi, a religious ultra-conservative who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.
Inflation is running at over 30%. There are few good jobs for young Iranians. Women are forced to wear headscarves — though a few still resist the mandate, despite the risk of possible harsh punishment.
Given the circumstances, you might think voters in Iran would be fired up to pick a new president. But that’s not the case.
These are Iran’s approved presidential election candidates
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Two elderly women who agreed to speak with CBS News on the streets of Tehran even seemed eager, but almost everyone else we spoke with said they’d be staying home on Friday.
They know it’s Khamenei who sets the agenda, and few believe a new president could make much difference.
Whoever wins is unlikely to deliver any of the changes struggling Iranians crave, or to shift Iran’s policy on global issues, such as its highly contentious and still active nuclear program, its backing of proxy militant groups across the Middle East — including Hamas — or its basic anti-Americanism.
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Source: cbsnews.com