Voter turnout in Iran was already historically low in 2020. A new low is now expected. According to reports, only around 41 percent voted this time. A behavior that can be understood as protest.
Despite a four-hour extension, turnout in the elections in Iran is expected to be low. According to an initial report, it is around 41 percent. As the pro-government news agency Fars reported last night (local time), around 25 out of 61 million eligible voters cast their votes. The information cannot be independently verified.
It would again be the lowest voter turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic – after 42.6 percent in the 2020 parliamentary election, the lowest level since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The first results are expected over the weekend.
Critical candidates excluded
The nearly 60,000 polling stations nationwide were open from 8 a.m. to midnight local time (5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. CET). According to state media, schools are closed today, at the start of the Iranian week, due to the delay in elections.
Those eligible to vote were called upon to elect a new parliament (Majles) and the Council of Experts, an influential body of Islamic clerics. Numerous critical candidates were excluded before the elections by the so-called Guardian Council. The population is considered disillusioned by failed attempts at reform. Many people didn’t want to vote.
ARD correspondent Katharina Willinger described in the daily topics their impression that “very few young people” voted – a circumstance that was already expected. There were also no long queues, says Willinger – unlike the previous vote in 2020. She and her team were also not allowed to take any photos inside the polling stations at the beginning of the day.
“Eyes of friends and foes alike on the results”
While opposition members living in exile called for a boycott, Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared voting a religious obligation. “Today, the eyes of Iran’s friends and enemies are on the results. Make friends happy and disappoint enemies,” he appealed to the population.
These were the first elections in Iran since the demonstrations following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. The security forces took massive action against the demonstrators during the months-long protests under the motto “Women, Life, Freedom”. Several hundred people were killed and thousands arrested.