Source: Financial Times
Fatemeh is a 46-year-old "commander" of hundreds of Iranian women who voluntarily serve the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force, in a poor satellite town near Tehran.
Operating as part of the Basij Resistance Force – the eyes and ears of the Islamic republic – she attended a rally this week ahead of tomorrow's parliamentary poll in support of the main fundamentalist coalition, which embraces supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the president.
"It is our religious duty to back the government and not let the country fall into the hands of aliens," says Fatemeh, who lost two brothers in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
With 12.5m members located in 70,000 bases in government organisations, mosques and universities, the Basij – meaning mobilisation – has a ready-made network that functions quickly and efficiently, a crucial asset in a country where effective political parties are absent.
Iran's constitution prohibits all military forces from interfering in politics but the support of Basij members was seen as crucial in -getting Mr Ahmadi-Nejad through the first round of voting in the 2005 presidential election, which he went on to win. Tomorrow's poll is seen by many as a guide to Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's continuing popularity ahead of next year's presidential election.
Fatemeh says she and 800 women under her command, all dressed head-to-toe in black Islamic cover, encourage people to participate in elections as individuals and not as members of the Basij because of the block on -military forces' involvement in politics.
The core land, naval and air forces of the Revolutionary Guard – all functioning separately from the conventional army – stand at 125,000. Recent comments by Mohammad-Ali Jafari, the Guard's commander, that his forces "have to value and support the fundamentalist trend", created a political uproar that forced him to clarify his comments.
Mr Jafari, who took overall control of the Guards in September, has prioritised dealing with "domestic threats" over even the possibility of military action against Iran's nuclear programme. He has pushed for a "structural reform" to further highlight the role of Basij, including expanding it to 20m members.
Reformists have alleged that the Guards have violated the law governing impartiality and accused fundamentalists of enjoying the support of "garrison parties" which make any fair competition impossible.
Fatemeh says they never tell ordinary people "to vote for Ms X or Mr Y, unless people ask for advice, in which case we help their understanding".
But she admits that, "after doing research on candidates and consulting clerics, we hand out leaflets in nearby villages introducing fundamentalists".
"We tell people that as they like to buy the best -carpets, food or clothes, they need to seek advice on the best candidates," says Fatemeh, who hopes the fundamentalists will retain their majority in the parliament after the election.
"Our concern is, first, political, including the threats from the US, then economic, because people need to live comfortably, and then religious."
