Both Israel and Iran are in the middle of an election campaign. While Israelis will cast their votes in a few days, the Iranians will vote in five months’ time. However, both campaigns barely grapple with the bottom line that rivets the world, namely whether their outcome will increase or decrease the chances of a regional conflict between the two states — a conflict which may deeply affect international reality in 2013.
In Iran, the elections take place under the heavy shadow cast by the repression of the 2009 Green Revolution. Some reformist candidates from that period remain under house arrest, while others, who are at large, grapple with the question whether running in this campaign could legitimize the regime that has already proven it would not balk at rigging the results.