Iran's elections ... preliminary indications of the conservative victory and anticipation of the participation rate

The Iranian Ministry of Interior announced today that the preliminary results of the counting of votes in Tehran indicate the progress of the list of the conservative current headed by former Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and unofficial reports indicate that the participation rate in Tehran was not high.

The spokesman for the National Committee of the Iranian elections, Ismail Mousavi, said that the committee will announce today the results of the parliamentary elections in smaller cities, with the results of the major cities announced on Sunday.

Mousavi said in a statement to state television that the results of 23 of the 208 electoral districts were announced, and that the percentage of elections in them was good without mentioning a specific number.

The authorities closed schools in dozens of cities to make way for the completion of the screening processes.

Revolutionary Guards
And figures of the initial unofficial results of the parliamentary elections indicate the progress of the conservative movement in it, as the Ministry of Interior said that a list of candidates linked to the Revolutionary Guards is leading the race in the capital, which has 30 seats in parliament out of 290.

An unofficial tally published by Fars News Agency stated that the Conservative Alliance won 191 seats, while the reformists won 16 seats compared to 34 independents.

On the other hand, an unofficial count conducted by Reuters indicated that the governors won about 178 seats, while the independents won 43 seats, and the moderates won 17 seats.

In constituencies whose candidates did not succeed in obtaining 20% ​​of the votes in Friday's ballot, a second round will be held next April.

Rating ratio
The Iranian authorities have not yet announced the rate of participation in the elections, which is a true test of the regime's popularity, but the spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kaddakhi, said yesterday that the participation rate will be about 50%.

"The Iranian nation has disappointed its enemies by voting in large numbers," Kaddakhi added, speaking to state television.

Some unconfirmed reports indicate that voter turnout was around 45%, the lowest since the revolution in 1979, with 62% voting in the 2016 parliamentary elections, and 66% in the 2012 elections.

The Fars News Agency, in an unofficial count, indicated that only 1.9 million voters voted in Tehran out of the 9 million that were included in the capital.

Experts expected a large percentage of voters to refrain from participating in the parliamentary elections because of their disappointment with the promises that the government did not fulfill, in light of the Iranians suffering in managing their living affairs in a country whose economy suffers from harsh US sanctions.