Voter Turnout and Political Maturity Make Iran’s Day
The elections for the parliament and the Assembly of Experts in Iran held on Friday have met what is dubbed as a ‘massive turnout’, official reports say. Some 55 million, older than 18, were eligible to vote in the tenth parliamentary and the fifth Assembly of Experts polls. More than 4800 candidates were competing for a place in the 290-seat Parliament. A total of 159 others were also running for the 88-member Assembly of Experts.
The somewhat unexpected public participation made the Interior Ministry extend polling hours several times yesterday. The polls that were originally supposed to close at 6 p.m. were extended to eight, then nine, later to 10 and up to 11:45 in the capital. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry told reporters today that the latest reports show 33 million Iranians have cast their votes into the ballot boxes. The figures are based on the votes counted and expected to rise, the semi-official Fars News Agency (FNA) quoted him as saying. The ministry also issued a statement early on Saturday to express gratitude to the nation for “adding another golden page to the book of the Islamic Revolution’s saga”. The statement also advises the media and news agencies, that regarding the returns from constituencies, an official statement to be published by the Election Headquarters will be the sole ‘operational criterion’.
With the present figures, the participation rate stands little higher than 60 percent, but still falls short of the average in the nine preceding elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which is about 62 percent, hitting highest in March 1996 in the fifth parliamentary election as 71 percent of those eligible to vote participated in the election. More than 3.3 million people have reportedly cast their votes in the city of Tehran while about 8.5 million were eligible in the whole province. The average rate of participation in Tehran has been about 46 percent, according to figures Tasnim News Agency had published before the recent polls.
A jurist member of the Guardian Council told reporters last night no serious breach in the election had been reported to the Council. He dismissed claims a nominee has reported fraud in favor of the reformists, saying he had not seen such reports.
As poll counting started, many governorates across the country decided it could take longer than expected, and called schools, used as balloting centers, off on Saturday. The possibility had been denied by spokesmen of the Interior Ministry before the polling started early on Friday.
The Interior Ministry has instructed vote-collecting centers to prioritize counting Assembly of Experts votes. The counting process has already finished in several smaller towns but is expected to take more than a day in major cities. Thus far, hardliners have not made it to the parliament, as results reported by Fars News Agency and Mehr News Agency suggest. As it turns up, no political front has won a decisive majority in the parliament.
Perhaps a tweet by Hossein Entezami, Press Deputy Islamic Culture and Guidance Minister, best sums up the election. “The election’s victory lies in it not being security dominated; without blocking of communication networks or security atmosphere in the cities. Also, the participation rate and the maturity of the nominees and their supporters,” his tweet translates.