Iran
People walk in front of an installation in the form of a giant ballot box, ahead of the upcoming elections, in Tehran on February 28, 2024. Photo: ATTA KENARE/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Polling stations in Iran closed late Friday night and despite multiple extensions to the voting period preliminary results indicate that the turnout was an all-time low for the Islamic Republic, state media reported.
Voters were electing a new parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the body that is responsible for choosing a successor to 84-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Due to low voter turnout, the Interior Ministry extended the voting time three times, keeping polls open until midnight, state media IRNA reported.
Sixty-one million people were eligible to vote. According to preliminary results published by IRNA, about 25 million people, roughly 41 percent, cast a ballot, marking the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic.
The Interior Ministry is expected to announce official statistics later in the day.
Friday’s vote took place as Iran is facing numerous internal and external pressures.
The national Jin Jiyan Azadi (Woman Life Freedom) protest movement in 2022 sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a lax hijab, was the greatest existential threat to the regime. The protest was met with a brutal crackdown that resulted in Tehran being slammed with more international sanctions.
Iran’s economy has been crippled by years of sanctions. Inflation is around 50 percent, the local currency has lost significant value, and poverty and unemployment rates are high.
The country also stands at the center of regional tensions stemming from Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. Pro-Iran groups angry over Washington’s support for Israel have been involved in clashes with the United States-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.
In its last parliamentary election in 2020, Iran saw a voter turnout rate of 42.57 percent. In the 2021 presidential election, the turnout reached 48.8 percent.
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