Legislative in Iran: Conservative tidal wave despite low turnout

Text by: RFI Follow

According to the final results of the legislative elections, the conservatives will control the future Iranian Parliament, while the reformers are laminated. Turnout was however very low with 42% of voters.

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With our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi

It is a veritable tidal wave of the Conservatives, who will control more than 220 of the 290 seats in Parliament while the reformers will have less than 20 deputies. Some 35 independents have also been elected, but they could side with the conservatives. Finally, there will be a second round for around fifteen seats.

In Tehran, the conservatives won all of the 30 seats in the capital, which had been won by the reformers four years ago. This morning, the conservative daily Kayhan told the front page that the victory of the anti-American candidates is another slap in the face of Donald Trump.

Only 42% participation

According to the Minister of the Interior, the participation rate has been just over 42%, one of the lowest rates in the past forty years. He said that the events of the past few months, including the November unrest and the news of the spread of the coronavirus, dissuaded some voters from going to vote. "With all these events, such a rate is acceptable," said the interior minister.

For his part, the Iranian supreme guide, Ali Khamenei accused this Sunday the foreign press of having launched a massive " propaganda " campaign to discourage the Iranians from going to vote. " The propaganda started a few months ago and intensified in the run-up to the elections and (especially) the last two days (before the election) using the pretext of a disease and a virus ", Ayatollah Khamenei said according to his official website.

In any case, with the announced victory of the Conservatives, the task of the government of President Hassan Rohani, who has based his policy for six years on rapprochement with the West and the nuclear deal, will be even more difficult. The conservatives have always criticized Hassan Rohani for having placed too much faith in the West, particularly when the nuclear deal was concluded.

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