{"id":66583,"date":"2024-03-02T14:15:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T14:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/iran-election-turnout-around-40-reports-say-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-03-02T14:15:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T14:15:05","slug":"iran-election-turnout-around-40-reports-say-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/iran-election-turnout-around-40-reports-say-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran election turnout around 40%, reports say | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Turnout for Iran\u2019s parliamentary election, seen as a test of the clerical establishment\u2019s legitimacy, appears to have hit a historic low of around 40%, according to unofficial reports in Iranian media on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Heavyweight moderates and conservatives stayed away from Friday’s election and reformists called it unfree and unfair as it was mainly a contest between hardliners and low-key conservatives loyal to Islamic revolutionary ideals.<\/p>\n

Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s first reformist president, was among the critics who did not vote on Friday.<\/p>\n

Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a women’s rights advocate, in a statement shared by her family with Reuters<\/em>, called the election a “sham”.<\/p>\n

The Hamshahri and Kayhan newspapers both reported that turnout was estimated at about 40%, in line with official surveys ahead of the poll estimating about 41% of eligible Iranians would vote.<\/p>\n

The Hamshahri called the turnout “a 25-million slap\u201d to calls for an election boycott, in a front-page headline next to a depiction of a ballot paper smacking US President Joe Biden in the face.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Iran’s “enemies” – a term he normally uses for the United States and Israel – of trying to create despair among Iranian voters.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0Iran election seen as legitimacy test for rulers as dissent grows<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“The Silent Majority” was the front page headline in Ham Mihan, a pro-reform newspaper, which also put the turnout at about 40%.<\/p>\n

The interior ministry may announce the official turnout later on Saturday. If the turnout figure is officially confirmed, it would be the lowest turnout since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979.<\/p>\n

Iran’s turnout fell to 42.5% in the 2020 parliamentary elections from about 62% in 2016.<\/p>\n

The election follows anti-government protests in 2022-23 that spiralled into some of Iran’s worst political turmoil since the revolution and coincided with growing frustration over the country’s economic woes.<\/p>\n

Over 15,000 candidates ran for the 290-seat parliament on Friday.<\/p>\n

The parliamentary election was twinned with a vote for the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, an influential body that has the task of choosing 84-year-old Khamenei’s successor.<\/p>\n

Hardline President Ebrahim Raisi was re-elected to the Assembly of Experts with 82.5% of the vote, the interior ministry announced on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist who was elected president in landslide wins in 2013 and 2017 promising to reduce Iran’s diplomatic isolation, was banned from running, drawing criticism from moderates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turnout for Iran\u2019s parliamentary election, seen as a test of the clerical establishment\u2019s legitimacy, appears to have hit a historic low of around 40%, according to unofficial reports in Iranian media on Saturday. Heavyweight moderates and conservatives stayed away from Friday’s election and reformists called it unfree and unfair as it was mainly a contest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/Iran-Elections1709386111-0\/Iran-Elections1709386111-0.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t