In Iran on Friday June 18, the presidential election must designate who will take over from Hassan Rouhani at the head of the country. Conservative candidate Ebrahim Raïssi could win the ballot in a country in crisis. “The severity of the crisis right now is still the result, I would say 95%, of American sanctions. It is still interesting to note that this policy of Trump of maximum pressure against Iran, it has when even led to this arrival of the tough guys in power in Iran so we can see to what extent it was a counterproductive policy “ , estimates Thierry Coville, researcher at IRIS and specialist in Iran, on the set of 23 hours of Franceinfo Friday June 18.

A divide between power and part of the population?

The presidential election could be marked by a high rate of abstention. Thierry Coville explains that there are “two things. There is the structural aspect, with this power linked to religion which in any case is stronger according to the constitution than the power, between quotation marks, democratic. But in addition , we have the impression that the Iranians no longer believe in the democratic part of the system. and 50%. This is low compared to the last presidential participation rate, in 2017, which was still over 70%, “he says.