Sec. 105. Sense of Congress on elections in Iran
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Congress makes the following findings: The Iranian people are systematically denied free, fair, and credible elections by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The unelected and unaccountable Guardian Council disqualifies hundreds of qualified candidates, including women and most religious minorities, while the regime intimidates others into staying out of elections completely. Voting inconsistencies, including an absence of international observers, and fraud are commonplace.
The 2009 presidential elections proved that the regime will engage in large scale vote-rigging to ensure a specific result. The Iranian regime combines electoral manipulation with the ruthless suppression of dissent. Following the 2009 elections, peaceful demonstrators were met with violence by the regime’s security apparatus, including arbitrary detentions, beatings, kidnappings, rapes, and murders. The electoral manipulation and human rights violations are in violation of the Government of Iran’s agreed to obligations under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It is the sense of the Congress that— the Iranian people are deprived by their government of free, fair, and credible elections; the United States should support freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law in Iran, and elections that are free and fair, meet international standards, and allow independent international and domestic electoral observers unrestricted access to polling and counting stations; and the United States should support the people of Iran in their peaceful calls for a representative and responsive democratic government that respects human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law.