Foreign Policy Blogs

A Candid Discussion on Iran’s Presidential Elections

iran-elections

The eleventh Iranian presidential election is scheduled to be held this June. Local council elections will also take place at the same time as presidential elections.

To take an analytic look at this year’s Iranian elections from a number of relevant angles, the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) will be discussing the elections with leading observers and analysts of Iranian affairs.

Part of FPA’s “Candid Discussion Series” by Reza Akhlaghi, these discussions will engage internationally recognized and accomplished professionals who come from media organizations, think tanks, and academia armed with extensive research and insight on Iranian socio-political, geopolitical, and cultural affairs.

This year’s presidential elections come amid a crisis hitting the country on a multitude of dimensions, including a corruption-stricken economy worsened by harsh international sanctions; a sharp decline in the value of the Iranian currency that has drastically lowered the purchasing power of average Iranians; absence of a settlement to the country’s nuclear dossier; intensification of Iran’s highly factional politics; and regional transformations induced by the Arab Spring.

Through these discussions, we will try to find answers to questions on whether or not the elections are held in a democratic fashion; the direction of shifting alliances in Iran’s corridors of power; the potential impact of sanctions on the selection of final candidates to run, and on the future and stability of the Islamic Republic. Please join us as we take an in-depth look into Iran’s upcoming elections with help from a team of world-class experts.