Iran holds its elections to elect a new parliament and the Assembly of Leadership Experts, which will elect the Supreme Leader of the state.
The voting process started at 8 am Tehran time, as the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was the first person to cast a vote, calling on Iranians to do the same.
“As I have said in previous elections, I repeat now that you must go and cast your ballot as soon as possible,” state media IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying, noting that the world is closely following the country’s polls.
“Both our friends, those who care for the Iranian nation and our adversaries are following the issues of our country … make our friends happy, and disappoint our enemies,” he added.
Iran has been rocked by various internal and external issues since the last vote in 2020. The country was slammed with international sanctions, and witnessed the Jin Jiyan Azadi” (Woman Life Freedom) nationwide protest movement in 2022, following 22-year-old Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini’s death while in police custody after being arrested for allegedly wearing a lax hijab.
IRNA reported on Thursday that over 61 million people are eligible to cast their ballots in Iran, but that a low voter turnout is anticipated. More than half of the participants of an Iranian state TV poll expressed indifference regarding the results of the vote.
In its last parliamentary election in 2020, the country recorded a voter turnout rate of 42.57 percent, the lowest since the founding of the Islamic Republic. In the 2021 presidential elections, the turnout reached 48.8 percent.
Conservative parties are expected to dominate the 290-member legislature. In the 2020 poll, they won 232 seats after many reformists and moderate candidates were barred from running.
A coalition of parties dubbed the “reformist front” announced that it would not partake in the “meaningless, non-competitive and ineffective elections.”
Former reformist president Mohammed Khatami, wrote in the conservative Javan Daily “I think we are still a long way from meeting the conditions and requirements for elections, in the true sense of the word,” adding that the elections were “very far from being free and competitive.”
Tehran’s bitter rival, the United States, stated having no expectations that Iran’s elections are going to be fair.
“I have no expectation that Iran's elections will be free and fair, and I suspect that a great number of Iranians have no expectation that those elections will be free and fair," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Thursday.
"Thousands of candidates were already disqualified in an opaque process, and the world has long known that Iran's political system features undemocratic and nontransparent administrative, judicial, and electoral systems," he added.
Friday’s elections take place as Iran stands at the center of regional tensions stemming from Israel’s continued war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 7. Pro-Iran groups have been involved in clashes with the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.
The vote also takes place against the backdrop of the country’s dire economic conditions. Tehran is crippled by international sanctions and the inflation is around 50 percent and the local currency lost significant value against the US dollar.
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