With just a week to go before the presidential election, Iranians are divided over whether the vote will address burning economic issues and a compulsory hijab law.
Iran will go to the polls on June 28 to choose from six candidates – five conservatives and one relatively reformist – to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.
The elections come at a time when Iran is grappling with economic pressures, international sanctions and the imposition of a mandatory head covering law for women.
“They promise changes but don’t do much,” said Hamid Habibi, a 54-year-old shop owner in Tehran’s busiest Grand Bazaar.
“I’ve watched the debates and the campaigns; they say beautiful things, but they have to put actions behind their words,” he said.
Despite his skepticism, Habibi plans to vote next week.
The candidates held two debates, each pledging to tackle financial challenges affecting the country’s 85 million people.
“The economic situation is getting worse day by day and I don’t see any improvement,” said Fariba, 30, who runs an online store.
“No matter who wins, our lives won’t change,” he said.
‘No difference’
Others, like Taghi Dodangeh, a 57-year-old baker, are hopeful.
Describing voting as a religious duty and a national responsibility, he said, “Change is certain.”
But Jovji, a 61-year-old housewife, expressed doubts, especially about the list of candidates.
He said, “There is hardly any difference among these six people. One cannot say that any of them belongs to a different group.”
Iran’s Guardian Council approved six candidates, disqualifying most liberals and reformists.
The main contenders include conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, ultra-conservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the only reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian.
Mother Keshav, 53, intends to vote for the candidate with the strongest economic plan.
“Young people are facing economic difficulties,” he said.
“The Raisi made efforts, but things did not change much for the common people at the grassroots level and they were unhappy.”
In the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power, many voters stayed away from voting, resulting in a participation rate of about 49 percent – the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
‘Behave humanely’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for a higher voter turnout.
Still, shopkeeper Mahdi Zeynali, 26, said he would only vote if the candidate proved to be “the right person.”
The election comes at a turbulent time amid the Gaza war between Iran’s rival Israel and Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, as well as diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The compulsory hijab law remains controversial, particularly since the mass protests that began following the custodial death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was detained for allegedly violating the dress code for women in Iran, which requires women to cover their heads and necks and wear modest clothing in public places.
Despite increased enforcement, many women, especially in Tehran, defy the dress code.
Fariba expressed concern that after the election, “things would go back to the way they were”, and young women would not be able to remove their head scarves.
Jowji, an undecided voter who wears a veil, considers it a “personal” choice and opposes state interference.
“It doesn’t matter who becomes president,” he said.
“What is important is what they actually do. For me it is not important whether they have a turban or not. They must work in a humane way.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
