Iran – And Her “Economy of Resistance”

[Shapur Zol Aktaf]

I have nothing against it. I say the people reason to vote for a person usually has nothing to do with his/her competency as a politician or leader. And that's across the globe not specific to Iranians.

What I'm seeing is something else. People vote for those whom they expect to perform well and they punish those who performed bad.

 

[Arminkh]

What I'm seeing is something else. People vote for those whom they expect to perform well and they punish those who performed bad.

Yes, they punish them after the fact. But that is kind of too late because the damage is already done. But the very first vote, is not based on the performance or competency. Because there usually is no history to that and even if there is, no body really cares about it.

 

[Shapur Zol Aktaf]

Yes, they punish them after the fact. But that is kind of too late because the damage is already done. But the very first vote, is not based on the performance or competency. Because there usually is no history to that and even if there is, no body really cares about it.

No, there are for example parties with 80 years of performance/history. Their record is known.
Also before elections individuals and parties explain their plans. Based on performance in the past and plans for the future (all their plans gets calculated by statistics department) and open debates, people will make a choice.

Also you're free to establish your own party, you wont be filtered out by some elite clerics/religious group.

 

[AmirPatriot]

I have nothing against it. I say the people reason to vote for a person usually has nothing to do with his/her competency as a politician or leader. And that's across the globe not specific to Iranians.

Usually if there isn't a populist on the stage they actually will.

 

[Hack-Hook]

The first election that I could clearly remember was first term of president Khatami back in 1997, I was a kid under 18 so I couldn't vote or participate in it but I watched entire candidates' debates on telly ..

If my memory serve me correctly in that election you could vote if you were 16

 

[raptor22]

I agree but at the same time, it seems to be a widespread problem and not only limited to Iran. That weight lifter know as much about running a city that Trump knows about running a country. We also all remember that Arnold was governor of US most important state, California, for a long time.

And as Trump's story showed, having permanent and well established parties is not going to solve much.

The way Iran's government has designed, doesn't encourage existence of strong parties. Why would any one need to join one any way? Here or in US, people join parties to have their financial and political support. According to a study, a successful presidential candidate, needs to spend anywhere between $10 to $50 million on campaign costs alone to get to top two. It's a lot of money and entities or people who have that kind of money, give it to parties not single people. On the short side, they also maintain a control over that party. For example it is well known that Republicans are supported by arm manufacturing companies so they usually like to start some kind of arm conflict somewhere in order to sell their supporters' weapons and return the favor.

The good thing about Iran political system is that at lease for now, the successful candidate doesn't owe anything to any cartel or billionaire (disregarding the potential bribery for now).

I still think people should vote for the person not considering his status as an athlete or .... but his personality and management skills.That can solve the problem but it needs a big boost in populations' political intelligence.

Electing persons means to put control of an entire nation's fate (80 million people) in the hands of one person for 4 years ... a vast spectrum of subject from foreign policy to economical, social and cultural would go under his authority. what happened during former government is clear sign of it .. Furthermore as you witnessed in recent presidential election in the USA people voted to one populist person ..that's true but again he was representing one party at the end and also don't forget the fact that he can not do whatever he wants which is more important .. his executive orders have been blocked by an independent judiciary system. do we have it in Iran? previous Iranian president have cases in supreme audit court of Iran (SAC) and he doesn't feel that he needs to be responsible for it at all the funny part is he wanted to stand as president again before leader objection ...
The current status quo in Iran is the result of electing persons. what I seek is a system that doesn't depend on persons that could bring stability . actually this has been a source of debate since Plato and his glorious student Aristotle , they did believe that democracy socks though they supported it before and their main objective was the fact that democracy would put power in hands of people that are not capable of making decision 'cause they are driven with their selfish passions and desires consequently they introduced Aristocracy later on which in power is in the hands of educated well trained people that unlike ordinary folks are capable of making proper decisions.

I don't know maybe I am wrong ...

If my memory serve me correctly in that election you could vote if you were 16

Even if it h would have been 12 again I couldn't participate , as I said I was a kid ... but interested in political issues ..