Friday’s Majlis (parliamentary) elections in Iran featured deserted polling stations and last-minute pleas from regime officials for Iranian citizens to vote as people across the country made good on their promises to boycott the sham elections.

On Thursday, the website Modern Diplomacy published an article detailing the current crisis in Iran as it relates to Friday’s Majlis (parliamentary) elections. The piece describes the dead-end currently facing the regime and the importance of the elections in maintaining the appearance of legitimacy. It also calls on the European Union to support the Iranian people by joining the maximum pressure campaign against the regime.

On Sunday, regime President Hassan Rouhani held a press briefing urging the Iranian people to participate in this Friday’s Majlis (parliamentary) elections. The briefing was a stunning reversal of his earlier criticisms of the elections, which he had previously called a “selection,” and clearly demonstrates the regime’s deep concerns about a nationwide boycott of the elections.

The coming parliamentary elections in Iran can only be described as a shambles. The elections are far removed from any true version of democracy and they are a way for the Supreme Leader of Iran to eliminate his opposition.

Iranian dissidents who don’t support the hard-line regime in Tehran are telling their fellow citizens not to cast their votes in the elections coming up next week. Instead of doing this they are urging them to overthrow what they referred to as a struggling regime.