Iran announces lowest voter turnout since 1979

Iran’s interior minister has actually revealed that the voter turnout in the current parliamentary elections had to do with 42 percent,  the lowest since the 1979 transformation.

It was the first time turnout dipped below the 50 percent mark since the transformation as  the nation’s leading leader stated its opponents highlighted the danger of the brand-new coronavirus to discourage individuals from ballot.

More:

  • Conservatives make early gains in Iran parliamentary election

  • Surveys close in Iranian parliamentary election

  • Iranians vote to choose brand-new parliament amidst unpredictability

“The turnout across the country was 42.57 percent,” Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli informed a telecasted press conference on Sunday. “ In [the capital] Tehran, it was around 25percent Throughout Iran, over 24 million individuals voted.”

Fazli stated the election occurred under less-than-ideal situations, however nonetheless, “we believe that the number of votes and the turnout is absolutely acceptable”.

In the 2016 surveys, the turnout was 62 percent, while 4 years previously, it was 66percent The 2020 figure will be a dissatisfaction for the nation’s political management, which had actually required a turnout of a minimum of 55 to 60 percent in the run- as much as the elections.

Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from Tehran, stated the low turnout was “very embarrassing” for the political facility.

“We knew this election would be controversial because the Guardian Council, the body that vets candidates, disqualified thousands of candidates, including 81 current sitting MPs,” he stated.

“But despite the Supreme Leader and President Hassan Rouhani coming out to encourage people to vote, they just didn’t come out.”

‘ Unfavorable propaganda’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Friday  stated ballot was “a religious duty”, blamed the low turnout on the “negative propaganda” about the brand-new coronavirus.

“This negative propaganda about the virus began a couple of months ago and grew larger ahead of the election,” stated Khamenei, according to his official website.

“Their media did not miss the tiniest opportunity for dissuading Iranian voters and resorting to the excuse of disease and the virus.”

Iran, which verified its first case of the brand-new coronavirus 2 days prior to the surveys, has actually revealed 43 cases of the infection in 4 various cities, consisting of in Tehran.

With 8 individuals dead, Iran has the highest death toll from the brand-new coronavirus outside of China, where the break out began late in 2015 and has actually up until now eliminated more than 2,400 individuals.

Follow AsumeTech on

More From Category

More Stories Today

Leave a Reply