According to preliminary results of the parliamentary elections in Iran held yesterday, the names of about twenty percent of the candidates elected to the Majlis (parliament), have been announced, Iranian news agency Fars reports today. In particular, several members of parliament of this convocation have been re-elected. A small number of elected parliamentarians represent two of the cities instead of one.
The Iranian parliament has 290 members, 60 of which have been considered for re-election.
33 deputies of the present convocation were not allowed to participate in the elections. Their nominations were rejected by Iran's Guardian Council. Elections in Iran began at 8 am on Friday and were to be finished at 6 pm, but the voting time was extended four times - once for two hours, and three times for one hour. The Ministry of the Interior explained the extension of the polling stations’ work was due to the high turnout and queues of voters.
More than 3,400 candidates competed for the parliamentary seatsElections were held at 46,062 polling stations. At 14,307 polling stations portable ballot boxes were used.
The election results must be announced within 48-72 hours after the voting day.
The main contenders in the elections were the representatives of conservative political movements. Politicians close to the current Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran mayor Mohamed Baher Kalibafu formed the "United Front of Conservatives" (OFC). This union criticizes President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the country’s current economic status and calls for more rationalist policies. OFC is opposed by another conservative coalition - "Front of the Continuation of the Islamic Revolution" (FPIR), which expresses the views of Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Supporters of the Ayatollah condemned the "spineless" Larijani and Kalibafa policy. "Successors" defend Ahmadinejad, yet fiercely criticize his close associate Esfandiari Rahim Mashai, who claimed that Iran should be a "friend" to all nations, including the people of Israel.
It became known that the younger sister of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lost her election bid for parliament, the Associated Press reports.
Parvin Ahmadinejad gave way to a more conservative candidate in the election in the city of Garmsar, which is located approximately 60 km southeast of Tehran.
Preliminary election results show that Ahmadinejad’s allies lost in many other constituencies.
Observers believe that the election results show the balance of power in the higher echelons of power in Iran after the Islamic Republic's opposition to the president and his opponents came to the surface. Last year, Ahmadinejad even disappeared from sight for 10 days.
The Iranian authorities have allowed coverage of the parliamentary elections, even to CNN. TV journalists were able to enter the territory of the Islamic Republic for the first time in nearly three years - since the beginning of unrest following the presidential elections in 2009.
According to unofficial data, the turnout is close to a record high and amounted to no less than 64%. This aspect of the voting was the main intrigue of the election, since, according to Iranian officials, voter turnout is a clear indicator of people’s confidence in the Iranian
Islamic regime and the approval of its course on the peaceful use of atomic power and inflexibility in its confrontation with the West. Four years ago, during the last campaign for elections to the Majlis, voter activity amounted to 55.4 per cent of the electorate. It should be noted that the winners of the election were known in advance, as the reformers of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, headed by former President Mohammad Khatami, withdrew from the election campaign.
Even before the end of voting, the Russian Foreign Ministry called not to "jump the gun and escalate passion out of nowhere," concerning elections in Iran. As Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich stressed,"the elections are very important. They will affect the Parliament and next year's presidential elections in Iran."
Nevertheless, British Foreign Secretary William Hague has already expressed the view that the elections in Iran on Friday were held in "an atmosphere of fear," and they do not reflect the will of the Iranian people. In his view, the Iranian "regime represented the elections as a test of loyalty, rather than an opportunity for people to freely choose their own representatives." Commenting on the situation surrounding the elections in Iran shortly after the polls closed, the head of the Foreign Office noted that "for some time, it was clear that these elections will be neither honest nor fair." As pointed out by Hague, due to a "climate of fear" in the country, "intensified checks" on candidates, "the permanent suppression of dissent" and "the continued house arrest of two Iranian opposition leaders,” the choice of candidates was limited. "Most of the representatives of the reformist wing decided not to participate, which has reduced the elections to an internal competition among the conservatives of the ruling regime," he says. "We do not believe that these elections can be represented as reflecting the will of the people", the Minister concludes.
On the day of the elections in Iran, it proved to be impossible to avoid comments on the issue of Tehran's nuclear program. For example, U.S. President Barack Obama, in an interview with U.S. magazine "Atlantic," says Washington would not allow the appearance of Iranian nuclear weapons and intends to use all means possible, including military force. However, he adds: "I'm not bluffing." At the same time, the President makes it clear that a "military component" is only one way to solve the Iranian nuclear issue, which will be used as a last resort. The U.S. is currently giving priority to diplomacy and sanctions, which, according to Obama, are quite painful for Iran and exert the necessary pressure on it.
Held on Friday, the Majlis elections have become the first event of this magnitude to take place in the country since the 2009 presidential elections on June 12 and the subsequent deterioration of the political situation. Then Ahmadinejad had a landslide victory, gaining more than 60% of the vote, while his main rival - the leader of the Iranian opposition Mirhoseyn Mousavi – gained more than 30%. However, the opposition accused the government of rigging the election results and demanded they be revoked. At least 30 people were killed in the riots which broke out in Tehran, and nearly a thousand were arrested.
General elections were held against the backdrop of the deteriorating economic situation in the Islamic republic, associated with a number of international sanctions.
