One way is to get officially dis-approved before competing in Iranian elections in the first place. This was [the] moment the system really started to crack up... Admittedly [the] precise moment is open to debate because the Islamic Republic was born ideologically bankrupt.
The Letter the Iranian Government Doesn’t Want You to Read
As published in Shargh (reformist), Tehran, Iran, Feb. 18, 2004 - Members of the Iranian legislative assembly, or Majlis, restrain conservative legislator Ghodratollah Alikhani (in the turban) from striking reformist legislator Reza Yussefian (off camera) at the opening session of the new Majlis, Feb. 23, 2004 (Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP-Getty Images).
On Feb. 18, 2004, in the immediate run up to the controversial Iranian legislative elections, two reformist Iranian newspapers, Yas-e no and Shargh, published an open letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei signed by 70 reformist legislators who had resigned to protest a decree forbidding more than half of the candidates from running. The next day, the Tehran prosecutor’s office ordered the papers closed. Criticising the supreme leader is a criminal offence in Iran...