Taken together, the population’s growing dissatisfaction and the system’s overt effort to deepen conservative political dominance underscore a widening divide between state and society. This change, most notably, gave the Council the power to disqualify politicians not just before the elections but even after voters had elected them. Anticipating unfair elections, many reformist figures, whose fortunes have dwindled in recent years, did not register at all. Thus, the elections were barely competitive in around half of Iran’s provinces, with the number of candidates less than twice the number of seats. The consolidation of power among the regime’s most conservative elements bodes ill for its ability to address Iran’s accumulating challenges.
