Iran’s Presidential Election and Candidates’ Maneuvers on Afghan Immigrants

The early presidential elections in Iran, which were held after the death of the previous president of that country, once again brought up and highlighted the issue of the presence of Afghan immigrants or, as Iranians call them, “alien citizens” in the political and social circles of that country.

Circles inside Iran have always been trying to magnify the presence of Afghan immigrants in that country as a challenge and take advantage of it. These groups even went so far as to raise Afghan refugees as a security challenge, so that the minds of the Iranian people become more sensitive to the refugees and more pressure is put on them by Iranian government and people.

While with the approval of the government of Iran, a nationwide wave of arrest and forced deportation of Afghan refugees from that country has started and every day dozens and hundreds of homeless and displaced Afghan immigrants are deported from Iran with insults and humiliation, the arena of Iranian presidential election campaign, has witnessed the re-planning of this issue.

The candidates for the presidential elections of Iran, realizing that the public mind in Iranian society has an unprecedented sensitivity to the issues related to Afghan immigrants, thought that they could use this tactic to pour the votes of a large part of the people into their ballot boxes to profit as a trump card.

The election slogans of the candidates were focused on the unconditional deportation of immigrants and the complete blocking of the border, and in this arena, one slogan was hotter than the other, and they attacked the homeless Afghan refugees and presented them as a challenge for Iran. One of the most interesting plans presented by the election candidates was the construction of a wall across Iran’s border with Afghanistan. The thing that brought with it the most reflections and reactions.

With the holding of the elections and the announcement of the results of the votes used in the first round, two of the leading candidates, Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, who were not able to win the majority of votes and reach the presidential seat, must go to the second round of elections and compete with each other.

Masoud Pezeshkian, who received more than 42% of the votes of the citizens of Iran and was placed in the first position, in his latest statements, once again addressed the issue of immigrants.

He said: “My government, God willing, will take three simultaneous measures related to Afghan immigrants:

• The complete blocking of the borders and prevention of further migration, which will be the central responsibility of the Ministry of Interior.
• Organizing existing immigrants. It should not be denied that a large number of Afghan brothers play an effective role in Iran’s economy, or have sacrificed in the imposed war, etc., but their presence in Iran must be organized and disciplined.
• Negotiating with European countries to accept part of the immigrants or at least bear the costs of their presence in Iran. The West must accept responsibility for what it has done in Afghanistan and has led to the migration of millions of Afghans. There is no reason for the people of Iran to pay for the wrong policies of others.”

Therefore, as Iranians have benefited from Afghan immigrants as a political tactic in the past, this time they used it in the election to win the votes of the people in order to reach the presidential seat.