Despite official pushback, the first Iranian parliament vote since the massive demonstrations of 2022 is met with poor attendance

UAE: Iran conducted its first parliamentary election on Friday, the day after Mahsa Amini’s murder, in the wake of widespread demonstrations against the country’s obligatory hijab rules. Despite calls for a boycott, the poll seemed to have poor participation.

It was not immediately apparent if the low turnout at voting places around the Islamic Republic was due to voter apathy or a deliberate attempt to challenge Iran’s theocracy. While state-run media showed pictures of voter lineups, other people in Tehran’s metropolis saw mostly deserted voting places.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, and other officials attempted to establish a direct correlation between voter participation and Iran’s adversaries. A boycott of the vote was called for by several, among them the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who called it a “sham.”

Politicians who advocate for any kind of change in the nation’s government—known as reformists—were essentially prohibited by the authorities from contesting in the election.

Only 116 of the approximately 15,000 candidates running for seats in the 290-member parliament, officially known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly, are seen to be pro-reform or moderate.

As a result of Western sanctions imposed on Tehran due to its quickly developing nuclear program, arming of militia proxies in the Middle East, and support for Russia in its conflict with Ukraine, Iran’s economy has remained stagnant.

A portion of the electorate recognized the difficulties the Islamic Republic faces.

One voter simply said, “There are many problems; too many problems,” adding her last name, Sajjad. “We express our disapproval as much as we can while also being depressed and mournful. God willing, the people in charge will begin to consider us, and it’s likely that many of them really do care.

The 84-year-old Khamenei was among the first voters in an election that will choose the new members of the Assembly of Experts for the nation. Given Khamenei’s advanced age, the panel of clerics, who have an eight-year tenure, is required to choose a new supreme leader in the event that Khamenei steps down or passes away.

Khamenei, who has been crippled since a 1981 blast, cast his ballot in front of a group of media in Tehran, his left hand trembling slightly as he did so. On state television, a lady was seen sobbing as she used her cellphone to record Khamenei.

He made a few quick words and encouraged people to vote.

He spoke the words, “Pay attention to this, make friends happy, and disappoint the evil-wishers.”

Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, who is Khamenei’s protégé, reiterated the demand and asked people to make today “a glorious day for the Iranian nation.”

However, the state-owned polling station ISPA in Tehran reported a 23.5% turnout, which seemed low. It was quite rare for ISPA to wait until Thursday to reveal election data, since their statistics are usually given considerably sooner.

Based on a survey of 5,121 individuals who are eligible to vote, ISPA’s poll projected a 38.5% national turnout. It said that there was a 2% margin of error in the survey.

That may set the stage for the lowest turnout in history. The lowest turnout was recorded in the 2020 parliamentary election, with 42% of voters casting ballots.

The demands for a boycott have placed the administration under further strain since, ever since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran’s theocracy has relied in part on voter participation for legitimacy.

A young lady sans a headscarf and her mother, who was donning one, attended a Tehran voting location on Friday. No one from the police or administration was available to comment.

The daughter, who went by Zohreh, added, “I went with my mother to vote so we could remind the authorities about the crackdown from last year.” According to her, Zohreh chose not to vote, but her mother supported a relative moderate who was running in their area.

of the meanwhile, there was a noticeable increase of security around the city, with regular and anti-riot police personnel stationed at major intersections and squares. Approximately 200,000 security personnel have been stationed across the nation as more than 59,000 voting places have opened. There are apparently an additional 1 million candidates standing in the election in this 85 million-person city.

The population of voting age is estimated to be 61 million.

There are five seats set aside for Iran’s religious minorities in the parliament, whose mandates are for four years. By legislation, the parliament votes on treaties, oversees the executive branch, and deals with other matters. In reality, Iran’s supreme leader has all authority.

For the last 20 years, hardliners have ruled the parliament, often issuing “Death to America” cries from the floor.

Under the leadership of Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former general of the Revolutionary Guard who had backed a bloody crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999, the legislature pushed through a bill in 2020 that severely limited Tehran’s collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

This came after then-President Donald Trump of the United States unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear agreement with other nations in 2018; this action set off a series of events that caused years of tensions in the Middle East and allowed Iran to enrich enough uranium at a record-breaking purity to have enough fuel for “several” nuclear weapons, should it so choose.

More recently, the murder of 22-year-old Amini in police custody in 2022 caused countrywide demonstrations, drawing attention to concerns regarding Iran’s required head covering for women, known as the hijab.

Protests soon turned into demands for the removal of Iran’s Islamic authorities. Following it, there was a security crackdown that resulted in over 500 deaths and over 22,000 arrests.

The voting period was extended by six hours by the authorities, and polls closed at midnight local time (2030 GMT). Results of the first round of voting might be known as early as Saturday.