Iran (MNN) — Ten short days remain before Iran heads to the polls in a snap election following the sudden death of former president Ebrahim Raisi. However, with five of the six candidates coming from hardline ranks, voters have little choice.
Transform Iran’s Lana Silk compares the process to “when parents try to control their children, and they want them to put their shoes on. You say things like, ‘Do you want to put your shoes on? Or shall I?’
“You’re giving a sense of choice, but really, you’re deciding the outcome.”
Presidential candidates for Iran’s 2024 elections.
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She adds that the odds aren’t great for the one candidate who isn’t a hardliner. “Probably the only potential promise on that list [of candidates] is Pezeshkian. He’s the only reformist in that pool,” Silk says.
“He was quoted in an interview in September 2022, when Mahsa Amini protests were happening, saying it’s our (the government’s) fault. But for the same reason, I would be very surprised if he was elected.”
Due to the government’s approach to elections, Iranians have lost hope in political change through voting. One poll puts the number of those who say they’re not willing to vote at 80 percent.
Believers know Who holds their future, regardless of the outcome of upcoming elections. “The government, the rules, the legal system, and the country they live in stand against them. On paper, the future is against them. But God is ultimately in control,” Silk says.
“We know that God loves them; He is for them. I think that has to be the same for all of us,” she continues.
“Our true hope, security, and future lie in Christ only. That certainly is the case for Christians in Iran today.”
Pray for strength and courage for Iranian Christians. Pray that desperate Iranians will somehow encounter the Gospel. Learn how Transform Iran makes Christ accessible in Iran.
“The most powerful thing we can do today is to pray and also to be a voice for the people of Iran, who can feel very isolated on the world scene, particularly with all that’s happening in the Middle East today,” Silk says.
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Inimafoto A/Pexels.
