2024-03-01 21:01:50
This content was published on March 1, 2024 – 10:01 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Iranians were called to the polls on Friday for the legislative elections. The main issue in this national election is the participation rate because the conservatives are guaranteed to retain a large majority.
This vote is considered a test for power because it is the first since the vast protest movement that shook the country following the death in September 2022 of the young Mahsa Amini, shortly after her arrest by the police for non-compliance. respect the country’s strict dress code.
In addition to Parliament, the 61 million voters out of 85 million inhabitants are called upon to renew the Assembly of Experts, responsible for appointing the supreme guide, the highest authority of the Islamic Republic.
In the middle of the afternoon, the authorities welcomed the “good” participation in the 59,000 polling stations, often installed in schools and mosques. It is “higher” than in the previous elections of 2020, which were held during the Covid crisis, indicated Hadi Tahan Nazif, the spokesperson for the Guardian Council, responsible for organizing the vote.
Results expected on Sunday
Four years ago, only 42.57% of voters turned out, the lowest rate since the proclamation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, according to official figures.
The vote, which was initially supposed to close at 6:00 p.m. local time, was extended until midnight (9:30 p.m. in Switzerland) “due to the vast participation of the nation,” announced the Ministry of the Interior. The results of the legislative elections, in which a record number of 15,200 candidates participated, are expected on Sunday, and the new assembly will meet in May.
One of the first to vote, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iranians to participate in these “strong and fervent elections” because “it is important to show the world that the nation is mobilized.”
“Unhappy”
But for Hashem, a 32-year-old artist from Kuzestan (southwest), “many people do not vote because they are unhappy with the political and economic situation”, with “prices increasing every day” due to an inflation rate close to 50%.
The issue of participation is all the more crucial for the government as it presents it as proof of its legitimacy on the international scene against a backdrop of strong geopolitical tensions. “Iran’s enemies want to see if the people are present” because, if not, “they will threaten your security in one way or another,” warned Ayatollah Khamenei.
According to him, “the United States, a majority of European countries, malicious Zionists, capitalists and big businesses” are “afraid of the power of the Iranian people”. The United States said Thursday it “does not expect” Iranian elections to be “free and fair.”
Conservatives in force
No upheaval in the political balance within the House of Parliament (Majlis) is expected, according to experts. The majority camp, made up of sometimes rival conservative and ultraconservative groups, will continue to dominate it very largely, as it does in the outgoing Parliament of which it controls more than 230 of the 290 seats.
Centrist, reform and moderate parties have been marginalized since the 2020 election and can only hope for a handful of elected officials after the disqualification of a significant number of their candidates.
The conservatives will also strengthen their control of the Assembly of Experts, a college of 88 clerics responsible for appointing and possibly dismissing the supreme guide.
A total of 144 candidates are in the running but notable personalities have been disqualified, first and foremost the moderate former president, Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021).
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