Officials in the Iranian regime have, from time to time, defined their regime as, "if the whole Iranian populace have one position and the Supreme Leader has another, it is the word of the Supreme Leader that will be taken as the fact, and not that of the people.” This attitude describes a dictatorial system of rule, a relic of the Dark Ages that rule Iran today. In the ayatollahs’ dictionary, people are defined as without rights or voice.

 So it is preposterous that, next month, this regime is about to hold presidential “elections.”

Holding elections in any country, normally, signifies the rulers’ determination to go by the people’s vote. In today's Iran, it does not go this way. The religious dictatorship uses a sham election rather escape the inevitable consequences of the people’s vote.

The regime of ayatollahs is the most detested government in Iran’s history.  Anti-government protests happen every day, on each corner of Iran, and are a sharp indication that it is not the hearts and minds of the people that the ayatollahs’ so-called “Islamic Republic” rests. President Hassan Rouhani and the Supreme Leader have preserved their grip on power to an unbelievable extent through repression, arrests, prisons and public executions.

On May 19, Iran's regime will hold its mock presidential elections. This is probably a unique election by global standards, in that contains no opposition.  The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani, represent the two factions of the same religious tyranny. The upcoming election is nothing but a power struggle between ferocious gangs within the system. Ayatollahs have already issued their Medieval commands on how to treat their own people, in particular Iranian women. Moreover, the vast extent of meddling and terrorism by this regime is so appalling that people in the region call the government in Tehran "ISIS’s godfather."

Nevertheless, the ghastly memories of the winter of 2009 remain a nightmare for the ayatollahs. That was when a frustrated Iranian people rose up, in every city and town of Iran, to unseat the mullahs.  The mass uprising was viciously crushed by the government taking advantage of U.S. and other Western states’ foreign policies which ignored the sufferings of the Iranian people.  Election time can ignite a new mass uprising which, this time, won’t be easy for the government to control, and it could be a political earthquake.

With seismic waves that travel through the region, the shrapnel and the flash floods of the quake now appear inside Iran. Six candidates for presidential election each have a share in putting their nose into others business and standing behind savage terrorist groups which try to destabilize the regional states. Who are the most likely to win?

• Rouhani, the incumbent president whose performance has been appalling, an impostor-like, a wolf in sheep's clothing act, is out to dupe average people into accepting enslavement with a record of more than 3,000 executions during his tenure.  ‎
• Ebrahim Raisi Another main candidate, the mass killer of 1988 massacre, and the informal candidate of Khamenei, uses the art of euphemisms, lies, emotionalism, and deceit. He said in his campaign on April 26, 2017: “I am able to create create 6 million jobs and triple the subsidies.” One Tehran local said: “He has yet to create any job or doesn’t understand the numbers.”

However the art of euphemisms does not work anymore in the powder-keg nature of Iran’s society. On April 26, 2017, Raisi cancelled his meeting campaign due to a lack of attendance, but claimed it was due to bad weather. In Esfahani (the second largest city In Iran) the locals said the election in Iran is a method used to determine which politician was "most able to deceive, torture and kill you.” At the end, those who count the fraudulent vote decide everything.

Categorizing the regime in Tehran as similar to democratic countries of the civilized world, if not a deliberate treacherous act but will definitely lead us to a misleading conclusion. What is, ironically, called “Iran’s presidential elections” is nothing but a power struggle between the savage fragments of this government. These fractions do not represent any part of Iranian society. They rather fear the revenge of the people. Statements published by Iran’s resistance, the Mujahidin, PMOI, show that, Inside Iran, mullahs are faced with daily protests by workers who demand their months of unpaid salary, by the staff of bankrupted companies, by women who demand their rights and by students whose colleagues are in jail, looking for a savior. Factions inside the Iranian government each have an interest in putting their noses into others' business and standing behind savage terrorist groups which try to destabilize the regional states.

The Iranian regime is continuing the daily murder and torture of its own people.  Just this past April, Amnesty International reported that Iran is about to put to death two men who were children at the time of their arrests. One of the men has been on death row for 15 years. The organization has identified the names of at least 90 juvenile offenders currently on death row across Iran. Meanwhile, the International Monitory Fund reported this week that in terms of unemployment Iran has descended 13 steps in the past three years from the rank of 29th in 2015 to 16th this year.

Elections in Iran means that the despot mullahs are trying to preserve their seats. Iranian people, however, do not consent to anything but a regime change.

Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate and social media journalist seeking democracy for Iran and peace for the region.