2024-03-01 12:26:15
Iranian voters began voting on Friday morning for the legislative elections. The main issue in this election is the participation rate because the conservatives in power are assured of retaining a large majority in Parliament.
As tradition dictates, the election day was launched at 8:00 a.m. (5:30 a.m. Swiss) by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, who called for “strong and fervent elections”.
In front of dozens of cameras, he placed a ballot in a red box to renew Parliament and another in a blue box to elect the Assembly of Experts, responsible for appointing the supreme guide, the highest authority of the Islamic Republic.
Some 61 million local voters are expected to participate in the two elections. The 59,000 polling stations, often installed in schools and mosques, were to close at 6:00 p.m. (3:30 p.m. Swiss), but opening hours might be extended into the evening, as in previous elections.
Low participation expected
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.
State television showed images of polling stations where women and men calmly queued, separately, to approach the ballot boxes before emerging, a finger inked blue as proof of their vote.
But experts expect a historically low participation rate. A latest poll published by state television indicated that 41% of those questioned were “probably” going to vote.
During the last legislative elections, in 2020, only 42.57% of voters turned out, the lowest rate since the proclamation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, according to official statistics.
“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%.
“Suppose I vote, what good would that do? The elected officials do not respect their promises,” denounced Hanna, a 21-year-old student, who is boycotting the vote in Kurdistan (west).
Legitimacy
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 once morest 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 Ali 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.” Washington said Thursday it “does not expect” Iranian elections to be “free and fair.”
The Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful ideological army of power, also estimated that “strong participation” would discourage possible “foreign interventions” in the context of the war in Gaza pitting Israel once morest Palestinian Hamas supported by Iran.
Conservatives in force
No upheaval in the political balance within the single chamber 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 following 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).
This election is the first since the vast protest movement which shook the country following the death in September 2022 of the young Mahsa Amini, a few days following her arrest by the police for non-compliance with the country’s strict dress code.
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