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IRAN
PRACTICES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BY BRINGING BALLOT BOXES TO THE
PEOPLE
Iran has elections every four years in which all
citizens sixteen years of age and above are entitled to vote
in a secret ballot for two candidates from a list of several
presidential aspirants. The current liberalization trend in
Iran is due to careful selection by voters of the most progressive
candidate, though laws of the parliament and actions of the
executive branch are subject to veto by the council of ayatollahs.
However, not everyone in Iran votes. The Iranian film Secret
Ballot (Raye makhfi), directed by Babak
Payami, is at once an effort to increased public consciousness
about the need to vote and an explanation for nonvoting. The
film takes place on the isolated desert island of Kish in
the Persian Gulf. An airplane drops a box, which contains
voting instructions, ballots, and a ballot box. Soon, a motorboat
deposits a female election official (played by Nassim Abdi)
on the shore; her job is to collect votes from various villages.
In other words, instead of a central polling location for
the district to which voters must travel, her job is a kind
of affirmative action for voters: She brings the ballots and
ballot box to the voters, albeit with the reluctant aid of
a vehicle driven by a member of the border patrol (played
by Cyrus Abidi) stationed where she landed. Since few citizens
in the remote area have ever voted before, her first task
is to provide some civic education about the way in which
elections enable progress. Then, if she persuades potential
voters that they can only have their voice heard regarding
their problems by casting ballots, they present their identification
cards, receive and mark ballots, and deposit their votes in
the ballot box. The film, thus, follows the common formula
of a road picture; that is, filmviewers see a slice of life
in rural Iran while learning about the pervasive lack of political
consciousness in the countryside. Many encounters are quite
amusing, as innocent remarks from those whom she meets raise
profound questions about whether Iran is really a democracy
despite the election ritual.
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For example, the first voter objects when the border patrol
officer appears to interfere in his choice of candidates;
he demands to cast a secret ballot and to have the officer
stop brandishing his rifle. In another case, a merchant refuses
to vote unless the election official first buys something
from him. In yet another case, women are fearful of voting
without the permission of their husbands, who are out fishing.
In a town where the men are at a cemetery, women are banned
from the cemetery, so the election official cannot gain admission
to the men. Those who do not speak Farsi are unable to read
the ballots and thus disfranchised. When she stops at a mine,
the equipment is too noisy for the lone worker to hear what
she has to say, and the he is just too busy to vote, perhaps
implying that Iran should have elections on a national holiday,
similar to many other countries. Finally, the border patrol
officer drives her back to the place where a boat is supposed
to pick her up at 5:30 P.M. At first dumbfounded that a female
would be assigned such a job, he gradually grows to like her
for her charm and persistence. While waiting, he votes, whereupon
she notes that he has voted for her instead of selecting from
the list of candidates. His amusing riposte is that he thought
that voting was by secret ballot. Then an airplane lands to
pick her up so that the votes will arrive in time to be counted.
The film, thus, contains an eloquent plea for democracy to
work through a more perfect election system. Accordingly,
the Political Film Society has nominated Secret
Ballot for an award as best film of 2002 promoting
democracy. MH
POLITICAL
FILM SOCIETY ELECTS NEW OFFICERS
At a meeting in Seal Beach on August 11, the following
officers were selected for the Board of Directors for the
year 2003: Michael Haas, President, CEO, and Chief Financial
Officer; Lu Tuan Nguyen, Vice-President; Joseph Ribal, Secretary.
Joseph Ribal served as Temporary Secretary for the meeting.
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