Presidential Election:

Well, honestly you didn’t think I would forget something as big as this, did you? It had been about a year that we have been getting ready for this election. Since Parliament elections last year & the change toward Islamic hard-liners, we’ve been expecting this election to be a huge step backward in our politico-sphere.
During president Khatami’s era, social participation in political affairs had been reducing day by day. That could be due to disappointment the nation feel…. “There never would be a change anyway,” one of my friends told me, who had been in President Khatami’s campaign for his first election with me. “Khatami’s a great person but he is no rebellion.” He continued. & this is how most of reformist’s fans think about the situation in Iran.
Most people I know gave up voting a long time ago, which led to hard-liners victory in parliament elections. They say no to the system by not voting & participating in political matters. I’m not saying I would vote or not, but I don’t know if Boycotting the election would solve anything. On the other hand, participating won’t change the basics either. Another friend says: “Boycotting will only let you blame others for a decision even they themselves didn’t make”. He is right in a way… the boycott only omit the responsibility.
Mr. Hashemi (Iran’s ex-president) is participating in election & he seems to have the greatest possibility to win by the polls taken by governmental system. However these official (& since distrust-able) polls show that more than 50% are not participating in the election. This number is very vague yet everybody is expecting him to win.
His most powerful rival Dr. Moeen had been Education Minister during the infamous military attack to the University of Tehran. He is a very knowledgeable gentleman & seems to be a man of high caliber but unfortunately, he is not a decision maker like his fellow politician Pr. Khatami. This factor makes most hesitant reformist fans doubt his ability “I don’t want another Hashemi era for sure” declares a friend “but I don’t want a Khatami era either”. With this trend of boycotting the election by reformists, I personally doubt he can pull off in the election.
Mr. Ghalibaf is…. What can I say about him? He is a Military man, a pilot & has a Ph.D. (!) (Although he doesn’t have the Masc.)…. Ironically, he was in charge of Tehran Military force during the attack to university. Well, he has a very important privilege! He looks good. He is one the most handsome middle-aged men I’ve ever met. & he is elegant. Yet hmmm… a handsome military president is creepy….
Mr. Larizani, ex-head of Governmental Media, is another candid. He is a true politician, an Iranian Churchill. He seems to be a good manager too but he belongs to hardliners & well, most hard-liner fans will vote for Mr. Hashemi, so there is almost no chance for him to win.
Mr. MehrAlizade is the ex-head of Sports Organization & the recent Iran’s National Football team victory is a very good propaganda for him. He has proved that he is a very good manager but I doubt anyone even give him a fighting chance since he is in reformists campaign & reformists are trying to back up Moeen to defeat Hashemi.
The last but not the least is Mr. Ahmadinejhad, the Mayer of Tehran. Honestly, I don’t know much about him. He had been a university lecturer & he seems to do fine for the year he’d been the Mayer. There is only one point about him, which might be a major problem. He is well to put it bluntly, ugly. It’s not that physical beauty is that important, I know better to be this much superficial yet; the matter is he can improve his looks a lot by just combing his hair & dressing more elegantly. My cousin decided to leave the country if he wins the election. “People will think Iran is a big zoo,” he says, “if our president looks like a monkey”