In a report on its website on Sunday, Fox News emphasized the call made by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National of Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), for Iranian people to boycott the regime’s sham parliamentary elections.
Fox News quoted Mrs. Rajavi’s speech in Ashraf 3, Albania, home to the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK), on the anniversary of the anti-monarchic revolution in Iran in 1979.
“The boycott of the sham elections is a patriotic duty and the bond of the Iranian people with their martyrs, especially the over 1,500 martyrs of the November uprising,” National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) President-elect Maryam Rajavi said in a speech, referring to protests last year. “This boycott sides with the demands of the arisen people and students in January for the overthrow of the entirety of the illegitimate regime of the [absolute clerical rule],” Fox News quoted Mrs. Rajavi.
Fox News further quoted Mrs. Rajavi saying: “Indeed, the vote of the Iranian people is ‘overthrow.’”
As was previously reported by the NCRI, the Iranian regime’s Guardian Council has disqualified 90 sitting members of parliament, some of whom have already served three terms. Candidates in 170 districts are only from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s faction, and the main candidates of the rival faction in other districts have been eliminated, such that ultimately 260 seats will automatically go to the faction most aligned with Khamenei.
“AFP reported that The Guardian Council, responsible for vetting candidates, has disqualified more than half of the 14,444 who looked to stand in the elections — including many reformist and more moderate candidates. The outlet reported that many voters are consequently being faced with the choice of voting for hardliners or not voting at all and that the election could even result in Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s conservative rivals gaining seats The BBC reported that any candidates from groups opposed to the Islamic Republic, or who want to change the system, are disqualified from running by the Council,” read the Fox News article.
Several Iranian activists inside Iran were interviewed by Fox News. One of these activists, who identified himself as Kaveh told Fox News via text message: “Basically, public participation in elections in a democratic government is the product of the public’s confidence in its democratic structure.”
“But because we have a fascist government in Iran, people not only have no confidence in the structure of the regime, but they hate it.”
“In fact, what the regime calls the election is just a hoax to declare to the world that it has social legitimacy,” he added. Kaveh also told Fox News that the Iranian people want to overthrow what he described as a “corrupt and criminal regime.”
Fox News concluded by further quoting Mrs. Rajavi saying: “Today, [Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] is trying to fill the reactionary parliament with absolute loyalists. This is because he sees closing ranks as the solution to dealing with the current crisis.”
Election masquerade by religious fascism is usurping people’s sovereignty and betraying the Iranian nation #Iran #FreeIran2020 #BoycottIranShamElections pic.twitter.com/Eg9rGTZfpz
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) February 15, 2020
“But whether he succeeds or fails in this endeavor, in the end, the clerical regime has no way out and cannot forestall its overthrow,” added Mrs. Rajavi.