Posted on 06/23/2005 3:47:25 PM PDT by Wiz
TEHRAN - Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi made an impassioned defence of her decision to boycott Iran's election, which goes into a second round on Friday, and launched a stinging attack on presidential candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Ebadi told AFP in an interview that she was not voting because she deemed the entire election was illegitimate, adding it was of little difference whether hardline Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad or former president Rafsanjani won.
"I have protested from the start about the electoral law. For me the only option is civil disobedience and this is the least we can do. The votes are not just, because they are not free," she said.
"The votes that come out of the boxes are valid as long as they have been the results of a free election. Can you say Saddam Hussein's regime was legitimate or the elections fine just because he got 99 percent of the votes?"
Ebadi's stance on the election, which she says is not fair as the unelected Guardians Council has the power to choose who stands in the first place, has been criticised by some liberals as an irresponsible luxury at a critical time for the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at iranfocus.com ...
Iran news ping!
I haven't fully forgiven her for praising the Mullahs before, but this is a good start!
But if you don't vote don't complain.
The Nobel Prize is meaningless.
That said, this Nobel winner is actually right.
... up to a point. When minority groups in Serbia or Iraq call for boycotts to disturb the democratic process, itself, we must oppose it - and I think most at FR do. However, when it is known to all that a great majority has boycotted because they, essentially, oppose all candidates ... this is a different matter. It would be like voting "none of the above," here, except they aren't allowed to. BTW, a number of local elections in the U. S. have had to be repeated because of NOTA write-ins.
Indiana is looking in to NOTA. that would be great we could vote for neither party or candidate.
It's legal everywhere (don't ask me for the SCOTUS ref.) but you have to know how.
No I mean the state is looking to add it to the ballet.
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