The Syndrome of Populism in Iran's Elections; Emphasizing on the Presidential Elections

Elections are recognized as symbols of democracy, but these elections have encountered certain challenges in the age of modern media dominance. In the 21st century, the media has been recognized as a major player in politics and in particular elections. An election makes no sense without media. In other words, the media play a decisive role in the networking community at all stages of the election, whether informing, stimulating and selecting the candidate or the political stream. Modern media in most societies such as the Iranian presidential election in the last decade have had a positive impact on the orientation of public opinion, the quality of public opinion, the level of participation, and so on. Social media played a role in the Tenth and Eleventh Iranian Presidential Election, given their positive and negative propaganda power, discourse, bipolarization of the elections, and their emphasis on the corruption. As these networks, regardless of the fundamental themes of the election, have focused on superficial news, gossip, truth-telling, psychological warfare, highlighting the negative issues of the rival stream and labeling the election.