TEHRAN, 14 March 2008 — Iranians vote today in parliamentary polls marked by a low-key campaign and mass disqualifications of reformists but which Tehran hopes will send a message of unity to Western enemies. Campaigning was banned yesterday for the final day before the elections, which are expected to see conservatives tighten their grip on the chamber in the absence of a full-strength reformist challenge.
Top officials and state media have made every effort to emphasize the importance of a massive turnout to show national unity at a time of mounting tension with the West over the Iranian nuclear program.
State television has been repeatedly playing patriotic music and pictures of long queues of people voting in past elections, as well as running interviews with ordinary and famous Iranians emphasizing the importance of voting.
“Iranians will take part in the elections more gloriously than the past and will thwart plots of bullying powers to undermine the Islamic system,” said supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech.
The authorities will be hoping there is no repeat of the slack turnout in the last legislative vote in 2004 when barely half the electorate voted nationwide and less than 40 percent in Tehran.
Reformists have admitted the disqualifications in pre-election vetting mean they can only contest half the available seats, leaving a clear run for conservatives to retain control of the chamber. The campaign, which was only allowed to last a week, has been a muted affair.
The authorities were keen to see as little inter-factional squabbling as possible amid the nuclear crisis with the West and banned groups from putting up large election posters of their candidates.
Politicians have also steered clear in the campaign of explicitly criticizing the policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been accused of fueling Iran’s rampant inflation and exacerbating nuclear tensions.
There has also been controversy over the timing of the elections, barely a week before Iran’s main holiday period marking its New Year. Reformists fear this means any complaints over the vote count could be forgotten in the lull. Results are not expected in the immediate aftermath of the vote, with officials saying they should be ready by the New Year holidays which start on March 19.
The United States said it has “very low expectations that people will be able to actually express themselves.” Four main coalitions have emerged from the bewildering array of factions that make up Iran’s political scene, in the absence of Western-style political parties.
Conservatives have split into “Broad” and “Unified” factions, with the former seen as less enthusiastic about the populist policies of Ahmadinejad.
“I’ll for sure vote and will take all my family too,” said Nazanin Kashani, 23, a woman radiologist. “I loved the reformist government but Ahmadinejad has not kept his promises. Whatever happened to the freedoms he said young people would have?” Compared with other chambers in the region, the Iranian Parliament wields a respectable amount of power but its capacities are limited by the unelected Guardians Council, which must approve all Parliament’s legislation.
The polls may reinforce President Ahmadinejad’s chances of winning a second term next year, but even if his hard-line supporters do badly, it is too early to write him off.
“There is discontent with foreign policy and inflation, but the nuclear issue has so far played to the government’s benefit,” said an Iranian political analyst who asked not to be named. “Another element in the government’s favor is that many of its critics are likely to abstain from voting.”
