Iranians were voting Friday for a new parliament which conservatives are expected to dominate, with turnout seen as a key measure of support for Iran's leadership as sanctions weigh on the economy and isolate the country diplomatically.
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The disqualification of some 9,000 potential candidates, most of them reformists and moderates, by Iran's powerful Guardian Council raised the possibility of lower-than-usual turnout.
Reporting from the capital, Tehran, FRANCE 24s Reza Sayah said the Guardian Council this year had barred around 90 sitting moderate or reformist lawmakers, leading many Iranians to question whether the Fridays vote was a legitimate democratic exercise.
“Analysts say this apparent purge of reformists is an indication that Irans establishment is reshaping the government from one that was led by the moderates and reformists who wanted to open relations with the West, who wanted the [2015] nuclear deal, to one that now will be dominated by conservatives and hardliners who are going to take a much more firm stance against the US, implementing more anti-US policies, which doesnt bode well for whats left of the nuclear deal and improved relations with the West,” noted Sayah.
Iranians have seen the price of basic goods skyrocket, inflation and unemployment rise and the local currency plummet since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and imposed tough sanctions.
Wary of the growing frustration on the streets, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been urging Iranians to vote.
Speaking to reporters shortly after he cast his ballot in Tehran Friday, Khamenei noted that, “Anyone who cares about Iran's national interests should participate in the election."
Around 7,000 candidates are running in 208 constituencies for the 290-seat chamber.
>> Read more on moderates sidelined in Iran's elections
Washington slaps new sanctions
Tensions with the US hit an all-time high this year following a US airstrike which killed Irans top general, Qassem Soleimani. The strike led to a confrontation in which Iranian forces accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. Most of those killed were Iranian.
The shoot-down, and attempts by officials to initially conceal the cause of the crash sparked public anger and protests in Iran, which were violently put down by the administration.
On Thursday, Washington slapped sanctions on five Iranian officials in charge of vetting candidates, including Ahmad Jannati, a powerful cleric.
"The Trump administration will not tolerate the manipulation of elections to favour the regime's malign agenda," said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The Guardian Council slammed the sanctions, saying they showed US disdain for democracy.
"America's regime has shown through illegal sanctions… on members of the Guardian Council that it has nothing to do with democracy," said its spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee, who was among those hit with sanctions.
"We are now even more determined to safeguard the people's vote," he tweeted.
'People are not hopeful'
Turnout in Friday's elections is widely viewed as a critical test of the legitimacy of Iran's democratic process with the state unleashing all stops to encourage Iranians to vote.
On the eve of the elections, state media aired a short clip showing votes transforming into torpedoes hitting enemy navy ships closing in on Iran.
Hessameddin Ashena, a senior adviser to President Hassan Rouhani, warned on Twitter that abstention "increases (among other things) the possibility of a military aggression".
Turnout in Iran's past 10 elections averaged 60.5 percent, according to the interior ministry.
The Guardian Council said it expected at least 50 percent of registered voters to cast ballots.
Many voters, however, have voiced disinterest.
"We voted for Mr Rouhani with a dream, and then we didn't acRead More – Source
