Iranian hardliners yesterday headed for victory in parliamentary elections, sweeping Tehran and other cities in a repudiation of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s engagement with outside powers.
Friday’s vote was widely predicted to hand control of the legislature to conservatives empowered by the country’s revived, economically damaging standoff with the US.
Preliminary results show that hardliners won a majority of the 290 seats, according to a tally compiled by the semi-official Mehr news agency.
However, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday accused enemy “propaganda” of trying to dissuade people from voting by amplifying the threat of COVID-19.
Authorities have yet to say how many Iranians voted in the polls. A low turnout could signal widespread dissatisfaction with Iran’s clerical rulers and the system they preside over.
Estimated turnout was about 42 percent, the Fars news agency reported, which would be the lowest in the Islamic republic’s history.
In remarks from his office in Tehran, Khamenei blamed the “negative propaganda” of Iran’s enemies, saying: “Their media did not ignore the tiniest opportunity for discouraging people and resorting to the pretext of diseases and the virus,” he said.
Iran reported its first case of COVID-19 on Wednesday and has now confirmed 43 cases in total in at least four cities, including Tehran.
Voters had limited options on Friday’s ballot, as more than 7,000 potential candidates had been disqualified by the Guardian Council, most of them reformists and moderates.
Among those disqualified were 90 members of Iran’s 290-seat parliament who had wanted to run for re-election.
Hardliners and conservatives won all 30 seats in Tehran, the largest and most influential constituency, Fars said on Saturday after polls closed at midnight on Friday.
They also dominated in Esfahan, Khuzestan, Mazandaran and several other provinces, Mehr reported.
Additional reporting by AP
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