More than two years after massive anti-government protests over a disputed election exposed a rift between Iran’s leaders and its urban middle class, their diverging worlds are again set to collide in an upcoming vote for a new parliament. This time, disgruntled opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are unlikely to demonstrate, political analysts said, but they may not vote either, denying Iranian leaders the large turnout they seek to legitimize their rule. Iran said it has made advances in nuclear technology, citing new uranium enrichment centrifuges and domestically made reactor fuel. After crushing the 2009 protests, which erupted when Ahmadinejad claimed a landslide reelection victory, the government has disregarded demands for greater freedom and portrayed the grass-roots opposition as a small band of misguided troublemakers.
As a result, the March 2 parliamentary elections highlight a disconnect between the nation’s leadership and the hard-working urbanites — from bus drivers to university-educated nurses and business lawyers — who make up the Islamic Republic’s increasingly self-conscious and modern middle class. As the government sees it, massive participation in the elections would deliver a “punch in the mouth” to Iran’s foreign enemies, state media have reported, reaffirming the leadership’s legitimacy after 33 years of Islamic rule.
Full Article: Iran elections underscore split between leaders, middle class – The Washington Post.
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