“What election?” On the ski slopes just outside Tehran, few of the young skiers say they will heed a call by Iran's religious leaders to vote in Friday's parliamentary election. “I'll never vote. I'll come here to ski instead,” said Babak, a university student in his early 20s enjoying the sunny weather and good skiing conditions in the resort of Darbandsar. “It won't change anything,” agreed his female friend Maniya, sporting Western-style ski wear as well as pink lipstick and nail varnish. Like others critical of the government, they were wary of giving their last names. Coming from relatively well-off families and with some of them having lived and studied in the West, the views - and looks - of those trekking to Iran's mountains to ski are not representative of its millions of young people. But their disillusionment with the electoral process reflects a belief among many other Iranians seeking political and social change that the odds are heavily stacked against them in the election to the 290-seat legislature. Reformists say their hopes of making a political comeback have been dashed by the disqualification of many of their candidates in a screening process involving a conservative body that vets hopefuls on criteria such as commitment to Islam. As a result, the choice voters face will largely be between different conservative factions, including backers of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those who are opposed to the president, blaming him for surging inflation. Last week, a senior hardline cleric urged Iranians to turn out in force for the election, warning them that a low turnout would strengthen Western “enemies.” But Ali, a 26-year-old computer engineer taking the day off to go to Darbandsar, said none of his friends would vote: “What election? All the good candidates have been rejected.” Although people in Tehran can be up in the slopes in about an hour, driving through craggy mountains towering over Tehran, life here seems a world away from the traffic jams and fumes of the capital of roughly 12 million people. From the top at Darbandsar, one of several ski resorts near the city, the peaks stretch out in the distance with the snow gleaming in the sunshine. On this day, most of the skiers are thrill-seeking young snowboarders, the men with the kind of spiky hairstyle that the religiously conservative establishment frowns upon and one or two of the women even skiing without the mandatory headscarf. Police launched a clampdown last year on those violating the strict Islamic dress code, warning or detaining thousands of women challenging the rules by showing too much hair or wearing clothing deemed too tight. The target of such crackdowns has often been wealthier areas of Tehran or other big cities because in poorer districts and provincial areas conservative dress is the norm. __
