TEHRAN, 21 February 2004 — Grandmother Khadijeh Fatahi hopes US President George W. Bush will die of shock after seeing so many Iranians turn out for yesterday’s parliamentary election, a poll expected to return conservatives to power.
The 67-year-old led a chorus of some 70 women, clad in black chador, who punched the air and chanted “Death to America” after attending Friday prayers in central Tehran before voting.
“I am voting to say death to America and death to Bush. This will show Bush any idea Iranians will not vote is nonsense,” she said. “I hope he drops down dead when he hears this.”
A steady flow of voters filed past ballot boxes in the south and east of Tehran, a city of some 14 million, but eyewitnesses said numbers appeared thinner than in 2000 when reformists wrested parliament from hardliners in a 67 percent turnout.
Liberal parties have boycotted the election after the massive vetting of candidates by a hard-line watchdog. Bargain-hunters streamed through the teeming bazaar at Tajrish in the city’s affluent north, preferring to haggle over crockery and water pipes than vote at nearby mosques. Many said they were turning their back on reformists.
“We may have more freedoms, but people eat bread not liberty,” said Ali, 30, who sells CDs and tapes of Iranian and Western music. “Reformists have left the economy in tatters.”
Crippled war veteran Ali Asghar, a piece of shrapnel lodged in his leg, wanted nothing to do with any politicians.
“Of course I am not going to vote and I do not think anyone else is. All of them (politicians) have only worked for themselves,” he said, buying a packet of cigarettes.
Analysts are looking to election turnout statistics to determine the degree of support a new conservative parliament would be able to claim. A trickle of voters, mainly women and elderly men, headed to the blue-tiled mosques near the bazaar which doubled as polling stations.
“In other countries, like Iraq, Islam is being trampled underfoot, but Iran will not be trodden into the dust by the trio of America, Britain and Israel,” said 72-year old ex-soldier Qavam.
Young voters were conspicuously absent. Seventy percent of Iranians are under 30.
Many left decisions to the last minute. Three young women flicked through party pamphlets choosing their candidates while munching through a box of dates.
One cleric spent an hour perusing the lists and discussing the comparative merits of candidates with other voters.
Although widely expected not to vote, several of the fast set of party-going young Tehranis were turning out to get a stamp on their identity cards, fearing there could be trouble without it.
“I had better vote just to get the stamp,” said Maryam, her hair spilling out from under a leopard-spot headscarf.
