Atousa joined angry protests in 2022 against Iran’s rulers, who helped suppress loyalists like Reza. Two years later, the two young Iranians’ political views remain at odds, reflecting a rift that will determine the outcome of this week’s presidential election.
Now 22, Atousa says she will abstain from voting in Friday’s vote to choose a successor to Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash. She regards the exercise with derision. But 26-year-old Reza, a religiously devout member of the hardline Basij militia, plans to vote, a contrasting view on the value of the election that will deepen divisions in Iran between supporters and opponents of the 45-year-old Islamic Republic underlined.
All six candidates — five hardliners and one modest moderate endorsed by a hardline watchdog organization — have courted young voters in speeches and campaign messages, using social media to reach 60% of the 85 million people under 30. .
