Iran elections begin amid increased government pressure, boycott calls

Elections for Iran’s parliament and assembly of experts began on Friday, with officials in the Islamic Republic issuing warnings and pledging to urge Iranians to vote.

“Voting, a simple act, can produce significant results, so this opportunity must be seized,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.

On the contrary, political, civil and organizational figures in Iran and abroad have recently called for a boycott of the election. They say the situation in Iran, especially over the past three decades, has seen few substantive changes following elections.

However, reports indicate that ahead of Friday, the Islamic Republic authorities employed a variety of strategies aimed at boosting voter turnout. They gave soldiers four days off, allowed five different IDs to be used to vote, and implemented security measures against individuals advocating a boycott.

Karamullah Azizi, the director of Karaj’s Gezer Khsar prison, told inmates that voting was compulsory and that those “abstaining should be prepared to vote,” human rights group Hengaw reported. It’s better to face the consequences.”

Hengo also said the Kurdish city’s education department warned teachers by phone that “voting is compulsory, even if it is against the regime. Failure to comply will result in expulsion.” The warning came as Iran’s largest independent professional organization for Iranian teachers The association’s coordinating committee described Friday’s election as “dramatic.”

Calls for a referendum coincided with the February 20 report etmad onlineUrdu news media said that recent investigations conducted by certain official agencies and organizations indicate that “the latest investigation by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Corporation shows that [IRIB], the explicit participation rate nationwide is estimated at 35%. “

The Iranian Student Opinion Polling Agency also announced the results of a third survey of more than 5,100 people conducted from February 26 to 27.

The report stated that 38.5% of people planned to participate in the election, 7.6% said they might participate, 16% were undecided, 32.6% said they would give up voting completely, and 5.4% said they might participate.

The director of Iran’s Attitude Analysis and Measurement Group released the results of a survey conducted on Wednesday indicating that turnout in the national elections was expected to be between 25% and 30%.

Ammar al-Malki told VOA on Thursday that voter turnout in Tehran was expected to be as high as 11%. Maleki said the survey was conducted within 24 hours and was drawn from a balanced sample of more than 28,000 respondents and literate people over the age of 19 across Iran.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told VOA’s Persian service on Thursday that the election in the Islamic Republic of Iran was “neither free nor fair.”

“It is noteworthy that thousands of candidates have previously been disqualified in non-transparent ways,” Miller said. “It is widely recognized that Iran’s political framework lacks elements of democracy and transparency in its administrative, judicial and electoral systems. .”