University students resist ‘sham’ campus election campaign

Candidates for the 28 June presidential election in Iran are attempting to campaign on campuses. However, students, wary of repression and social control, are staying away from what they see as a sham election, writes Tooba Moshiri for La Croix International.

A week before the election, which was called for after President Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash in May, universities have found themselves at the centre of the improvised campaign. Despite the end of classes and ongoing exams, rectors and administrators have urged professors to be on deck. Institutions have turned into meeting places with the six candidates or their representatives.

But this forced activism leaves many students unmoved, convinced that the election is a sham. Sipping tea in a park near Sharif University in Tehran, where she is pursuing a masters in engineering, Elham Nazari called the presidential campaign a “circus”. “The security straitjacket does not allow political engagement. All young Iranians have experienced this,” she added.
Full report on the La Croix International site