Human rights activists seeking to highlight the lack of genuine democracy in Iran have launched a project to allow Iranians to express their electoral preferences in an unofficial, online election that will take place alongside this Friday’s presidential election. 

Chaired by renowned Russian chess player and human rights advocate Garry Kasparov, the We Choose Global organization aims to draw attention to the regime’s control over the election process, as well as to the essential meaninglessness of the balloting process.

Iranian officials have long been explicit that the election results will not alter the country’s posture toward its nuclear program, regardless of which candidate wins. The point was reiterated this week by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.

Just hours after Iran’s presidential candidates bickered over nuclear policies during a televised debate, the country’s foreign minister stepped in with a comment of his own: Nothing will change regardless of the winner… The overall decisions are firmly in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the hugely powerful Revolutionary Guard. That message was reinforced after the final presidential debate last week when Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi thanked the candidates for their “perspectives” but noted they “will not impact Iran’s foreign policy after the election.”

The We Choose Global online election, in which Iranians can vote until tomorrow, includes the eight candidates approved by Iran’s Guardian Council, as well as a dozen more candidates, including some of the 680 applicants who were purged and banned from running by the Guardian Council.

The organization’s efforts have angered the Iranian regime, and state media outlets have accused Kasparov of being a “CIA chess player.”

[Photo: we-choose.org]