Updates on the turnout in Iran regimes sham election
With Farid Mahoutchi of NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee
Good afternoon everyone,
Welcome to our second election briefing.
In a message to the regime’s leaders at 2 PM, the Interior Ministry has warned about the unprecedented scope of lack of participation in the election and empty polling stations. It has been stated that if the current trend continues, even if the voting is extended until midnight, no more than 4 million people will take part.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Alam al-Hoda, Friday prayer leader in Mashhad and father-in-law of Ebrahim Raisi, said, “Those who come to the polls cast a vote that makes the enemy angry. Those who don’t come to the polls too cast a vote, but for the enemy, they vote for America, they vote for the Zionists, they vote for Bin Salman, they vote for the Mojahedin (MEK). Are you ready to vote for the Mojahedin (MEK)? If you did not vote in this election, then you voted for the enemy.”
According to numerous reports, pictures, and video clips of thousands of polling stations in 220 cities in 31 provinces, taken and sent by the MEK Social Organization, the sham election was met with the widespread boycott, and polling stations were empty with only a handful of participants.
Reports from polling station staff in many areas of Tehran, such as the Qamar Bani Hashem Mosque, Armaghan Alam, and polling stations in Tehran’s second district, which includes 64 polling stations, show participation has been very meager, with turnout estimated to be less than half of 2017.
In Tehran’s 9th district, which includes 147 polling stations, a total of 6,571 ballots had been collected by 11 AM, which averages to 45 ballots per polling station. A total of 37 ballots have been cast at the polling stations at the provincial school in Pamanar by 1 PM. In Isfahan, the city’s election headquarters announced “very, very little public participation” until 12 noon. In Zahedan, about 25 people voted in Jaleq station by 11:45 AM. In Zabul, at the Abolfazl Mosque station, only one person comes to the polls every few minutes.
The names and details of many other polling stations that were empty between morning and early afternoon are posted on NCRI’s website. For more information, please visit NCRI’s website at www.ncr-iran.org.
Thank you for joining us, and stay tuned for our next briefing.
