(AP/Fridia Lisnawati)Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed hopes that the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) can create harmony among nations.

“In the last five years, the BDF has followed a positive path and I hope that it can create harmony among nations.”

Speaking at the fifth BDF on Thursday, Ahmadinejad added that wider participation by nations in the global arrangement could create harmony and ensure a better future.

The BDF is an annual event for government representatives in the Asia-Pacific region to share their respective countries’ latest developments in democracy. From its inception, the forum has aimed to be a venue for sharing experiences, ideas and best practices and not to devise concrete solutions to specific problems.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported that Ahmadinejad called the US election a “battleground for capitalists,” a day after President Barack Obama was reelected.

He said democracy has become a system where the minority rules over the majority.

“Just take a look at the situation in Europe and the US,” Ahmadinejad said. An “election, which is one of the manifestations of the people’s will, has become a battleground for the capitalists and an excuse for hasty spending.”

The price tag for the 2012 US presidential campaign was the highest ever, soaring beyond US$2 billion. As the two-day meeting opened, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said mutual respect and diversity are the foundations of democracy.

Dinna Wisnu, an international political analyst from Indonesia’s Paramadina Graduate School of Diplomacy, said Ahmadinejad is likely attending the event to try to find a place to fit in. And even if some Asian countries are not welcoming, the region as a whole is typically more accepting.

“Iran comes with its special agenda that has been planned as the country does not have a lot of friends in the Middle East,” she said. “They are in a difficult position. If they are not trying to make friends in other regions, Iran will be alone.”

The US and European Union have hit Iran hard with economic sanctions as a result of those concerns.

Iran has also long been criticized for its human rights record, including the continued use of stoning as a method of capital punishment. Increased Internet crackdowns and the jailing of political prisoners and journalists were also recently highlighted in a report by the UN’s human rights expert on Iran.

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