In domestic elections, she managed to defeat her male rivals
For the first time in Iran’s history, a woman was elected leader of a political party, the DPA reported. According to media reports, 57-year-old Azar Mansuri has become secretary general of the reformist People’s Union (Etehad Melat).
In the by-elections, she managed to defeat her male rivals,
reports the Entehab news site.
Masuri has been part of Iranian reformist circles for years and has served on the team of advisers to moderate President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). She was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison during protests against alleged manipulation of the 2009 election, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a second term. Since then, Mansuri has been seen by the Islamist political elite as an awkward critic of the government.
The People’s Union Party, as well as the entire reformist wing, currently do not play a significant role in the political life of the country. After the reformist government of President Hassan Rohani (2012-2021) failed to meet the expectations of voters, all reformist parties are in crisis.
As a result, ultra-conservatives and hardliners won the 2020 parliamentary elections and the 2021 presidential election.
Now the reformers hope to regain the support of voters in the next election, launching new faces in politics, especially women.
This comes amid the August incident in the northwestern city of Urmia, when two women were seriously injured in Iran after a man ran over them in his car because they were not veiled. The driver has raised a scandal with women over the way they were dressed and which he said was not pleasing to Islam. This led to an argument, after which the man ran over the women in his car. The women, although badly injured, are not in danger of death. The attacker tried to escape from the crime scene, but was later arrested.
